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Neil Patrick Harris doubts he'll return to host Oscars

"It's a beast," he said of hosting the annual awards ceremony.

By Annie Martin
Neil Patrick Harris at the 87th Academy Awards. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
1 of 5 | Neil Patrick Harris at the 87th Academy Awards. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

NEW YORK, March 5 (UPI) -- Neil Patrick Harris says he likely won't return to host the Oscars.

The 41-year-old actor revealed as much in an interview with the Huffington Post on Wednesday. Harris hosted the Academy Awards for the first time in February, and told the website he found the job too demanding to do again.

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"I don't know that my family nor my soul could take it," he joked. "It's a beast. It was fun to check off the list, but for the amount of time spent and the understandable opinionated response, I don't know that it's a delightful balance to do every year or even again."

"[I]t was interesting to see just what people thought landed and didn't," he said of public feedback. "It's so difficult for one who's simply watching the show to realize just how much time and concession and compromise and explanation has gone into almost every single thing. Every joke."

Harris said he was glad to get through the ceremony, and happy that people appeared to enjoy themselves. The actor previously seemed unsure about his performance, tweeting, "My iphone shattered the morning of the Oscars. I probably should have read more into that. #harbinger."

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Harris also hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009 and 2013. The actor is best known for portraying Barney Stinson on CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and recently guest starred as Chester Creb on FX series American Horror Story: Freak Show.

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