10/18/09
Neil Patrick Harris, who, as of 2004, was largely known as "that kid from Doogie Howser, M.D. small TV roles and a respectable stage career weren't doing much to bring him back into the limelight. Then he made a gloriously unselfconscious appearance as himself in Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle —or at least as a drug-addled, sex-obsessed, pantingly assholish Tucker Max-esque version of himself who uses his Doogie fame to pick up strippers. He cannonballs through the film, stealing every scene he's in with comments about tripping balls and craving furburgers. Naturally, he returned for the sequel, in which he explains that the PH in NPH stands for "poon handler." As abrasive as the role was, watching him play savagely against the cutesy innocence of Doogie Howser was comic gold, and it earned him attention in the right places. Within a year, he was co-starring on How I Met Your Mother , and the rest is awards-show-hosting history.
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The A.V. Club