“I don’t think that my family nor my soul could take it”

Mar 5, 2015 14:03 GMT  ·  By

Neil Patrick Harris was the official host of the 2015 Oscars awards gala, held at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood last month, and though he initially seemed the right choice for the job, which isn’t exactly easy, he didn’t really shine.

Ratings for the Oscarcast hit an all-time low and NPH was criticized for the lame and occasionally insensitive jokes he made during the gala, and eventually deemed a less than decent / above-average host.

So no wonder he’s not thinking of coming back, he tells Huffington Post in a new interview. “I don’t know that my family nor my soul could take it. 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,” he says.

He’s happy #TheDress controversy came along just in time to get attention off him and his Oscars hosting gig. However, he thinks people should understand that, when a host fails, it’s not necessarily because of something they did.

Every second of airtime is planned in rigorous detail and every joke that makes it in the Oscarcast is the result of many hours of negotiations, compromises and fights with writers and producers.

He understands that the people at home didn’t appreciate certain instances of his humor, but he wants us to know that he did his best. And for what it’s worth, the people in the audience seemed to enjoy the show, even though he’d been warned they would get increasingly bored as the night wore on.

Whatever explanation he provides for his sub-par Oscars hosting gig, that much is sure: NPH is done with it. So let’s put this out into the universe: producers should bring Ellen DeGeneres back.