Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, and Geoffrey Zakarian

it's a pleasure to be here we were chatting in the back how long have you been in New York both of you we met in New York in 2004 well I I moved here in 1997 then we met in 2004 lived here for about a year went to Los Angeles for about nine years and then we've been here for about two and a half now back for good yep sold our place in LA how about that well here I know you love with you I just think New York is its it it's it it's it there is a heartbeat here there is a pulse and an electric electric sense here that is just undeniable and and with our family and with our kids it's such a different experience being in Los Angeles where you're you're in pods you know you're in a car and that's a room and you're pod to your place very isolating and really then you're in your Park and you play it's fun and then you get your pod and you go to your restaurant for lunch and they take your car away and you eat lunch and it's okay if it's if it's if it's anything but Georgie Georgie's great thank you so George is great but I don't know there's something there was just something about about living in the city and I think that New York does that almost better I think said I've been in high for you know I just opened a restaurant Beverly Hills and it was kind of weird going there it's kind of great obviously but because the weather's 80 degrees every day it's perfect and at 10 o'clock in the morning you wake up and it's kind of cloudy or nine o'clock it's cloudy a bit and then at 11:00 it's sunny and it's perfect for the rest of the day every single day the waiters while because there's no time passing there's no evolution I know it's true four years went by when we were living there and I said oh my god what happened to four years I've been here for four years what's going on my life and but crazy Merry Christmas honey knowing the problem and we swam on Christmas one day and so here know how do you know when the seasons are in losses there's no seasons so here the tomatoes I get in July and August yeah a little bit maybe now but that in in LA get them all the time is these Tomatoes all the time has led us all the time it's a real odd thing it is never snow it's never cold it's like good it's bizarre then they string some lights up once in a while and you realize oh something's coming holidays it's Holi I like that I like the seasons passing because of the weather change and the sort of a difference but I also like it food wise I think on a culinary level it's fun to go and you you're a farmers market guy so you go constantly and get what's in season and and some things aren't in season all year long and so you go it's it's artichoke time fantastic ramps speaking of chef there's ramps this week speaking of food let's talk a little food I want to let's talk okay like I'm just gonna throw these away in a minute um first of all David you are a talented chef and actor oh that this gentleman has worked Hassan they told me to say that nice these are your notes oh um my web train this is the truth you've trained it Mario Batali's Baba Thomas Keller's French Laundry as all that Iron Chef Cat Cora how about that yeah and you have a catering company called gourmet MD did did you sold it yeah smart man for two billion dollars to cents okay so you have your stage credit includes Broadway Gypsy and who was Sylvia with TV credits include How I Met Your Mother everybody an American Horror Story most recently we just chatting about this anybody watch his new show on Food Network titled life's a party with David never seen that amazing so welcome thank you and Neil my friend here uh yeah well sis I'm gonna read what it says okay and then you'll get rekt me okay does it say I'm a talented actor and it says you're a talented actor and chef oh no that's David okay TV film voiceovers in stage the voiceovers you know Cloudy with meatballs - did you see that good clock can you do a little bit for me calling with me Steve yeah was it Steve the mother sews it you got paid two million dollars I was a monkey that red voice the recorder on his and everything he said spoke out the thing so I just had to go into a recording studio everyone smile and go gummy bears gummy bears love it love it so you're right it's talent you were working on something right now with Netflix a series of unfortunate events I talk about that and Olaf it's fascinating uh can I talk about it in Olaf you know you're hola oh yes uh yeah there's a lot of as well Daniel handler wrote this thirteen book series called a series of unfortunate events books written as Lemony Snicket there were off twelve or thirteen years ago I think they they came out with them and they're fantastic books they made a movie of them a sort of truncated version of the first five or six books sort of smashed together into a movie that Jim Carrey starred in as Count Olaf and Netflix is doing a three season sort of limited series of it so each season will be four or five books to get to the thirteen we finished the first season I play Count Olaf and it's just been a wild ride I can't wait for everyone to see where was a film we filmed it in Vancouver for the better part of five and a half months beautiful and it's crazy I've never I've never really played the villain as older and as so sort of overtly it's a lot of prosthetics it was about two and a half hours of prosthetics every morning so that was like 4:30 5:00 a.m. calls to get there on set to do it and the first book is Count Olaf trying to steal these children's dowry because their parents died and left leave them a fortune and then he is discovered and runs away and then book two he comes back clearly Count Olaf but now disguised as a different character and then and that happens and he's taken away and then in book three a different character so every book in every two episodes will be a different version so I've gotten to play a lot of different strange characters with different voices it's very weird and lon Cheney and what I've seen the first two episodes and it is remarkable what what the director is done Barry Sanne Terry Seinfeld directs half the episodes he's met a black and phenomenal it's another showrunner so cool I'm getting chills just thinking about it and Neil is killing it in the show I mean it's really I don't know if I'm supposed to say that but but he's good to go walk hilly children it's really cool trying to kill children you're trying to kill children trying to trick children should I kill him it's interesting because it's it's a it's a pretty black-and-white series in that way I Olaf has to be a villain that scary and mean enough that that the children are worried that for their safety and in the first book and in the first episode he's awful he drinks a ton and he he holds them up in his house and he makes them do all the chores and he slaps Klaus the younger boy across the face and and and the only way to found labor playing coming from France no that was but I didn't want to I didn't want to make it a kids series that was for kids and in doing so disrespect to the kids by by trying to play it in a in a more saccharine kind of watered-down way because I think the only way you can be a villain in a show even if it's for kids is to be mean enough to be a villain who's either validate the Villandry of it all villainy word I don't know yes okay with this is all know that the Olaf is awful and it's and it's super fun and Netflix is great you they they give you creative control to do all of them without meddling they're all going to be released at the same time you can binge watch or a super duper cool can't wait yeah thanks can't wait well plug speaking of children you have two incredible children Harper and getting and I a sent me a you say so they were I they sent me how old are they they're almost six critical moment up October 12 and they sent me a video you texted me a video of them eating at Georgie and they were critiquing my food ha this is the best scallop I've ever had and I love how the corn goes with the scallop and it was like you weren't telling me what to say that was saying that and it was like so fantastic so you got I read your bio I was a thousand times and we talked about that I got up in the middle of night and read them again they're just so voluminous your work you both of you are so busy how do you balance chill I mean I have three kids hound how God's name do you balance your life look so great be in such great shape mm-hmm do all this incredible stuff how do you do it how what what is this it is no secret but what it what what it is that you do to make it work cocaine all right oh it's not just for the kids snuff is good actually no I mean I think there's a God like you know I'm you've got three kids you've got a million restaurants eighteen different shows you you you have no choice when you neil has a good analogy when when when things are happening to you you get on that wave and you got to ride that wave true and and so I think the fact that we are busy makes us able to manage our time a little bit better I mean you you have to manage it you have to have of course we have help we have people helping us out all the time and but you have to manage them oh of course but but we we really take family dinners and weekends and and going driving them to school every single not driving them taking them to school every single day and trying to pick them up and we would try to be there when we can but when they're away in their lessons or their school we are working our butts off and when they go to bed we're working our butts off I mean we do get some downtime but but you know that's what the summers for so yeah it makes for a it makes for a less productive sleep cycle it does we get about sino five and a half excited but Eddie when I met David he had already been in a relationship with a gentleman who had had gone through the surrogacy process and and was raising twins of his own and David helped raise and and had gone through this parental thing and then the boyfriend after that that's a very close friend of ours wanted to have kids with David and he's a great parent and he all I'm a fertile boyfriend he's just he's kids are sort of drawn to him and him today and and I have always wanted to parent and I've always thought that was a super real possibility when I was younger I didn't quite realize that that could be an actuality and so we live in a time now where that was able to happen in a way that that validates the kids and our importance and their importance and I don't know I think I lived a myopic life for a really long time where I was just really concerned with lunch and and where to go for drinks that night and like what and what was going to happen to me and having kids has just been great on just multiple levels it's fun to watch them grow they just started kindergarten last week and that's such an amazing hurdle and and then to see that even within the week of kindergarten day one to kindergarten end of week one their vocabularies changing because they're now with kids who are their age but but advanced in ways that they aren't and you see their brains working in ways that they're not and and I just am so fascinated by that and I'm so proud to be a part of them and so proud to be a part of him that the lack of sleep and trying to fit it all and just sort of happens you know it's okay just deal with it right yeah and yeah and we have a choice really no I didn't give him back we've tried we we use food as as a real it you know it's everything it is everything for us and so their palates have been a real important thing to David and we didn't want if he didn't want to feed them can baby food we never did he went in and steamed carrots and and mixed them up and added some herbs to him when there were tiny berries and we've been eating sushi with them forever and they love oysters and we just think fresh fish is good and they said to me in the car you don't even know that yesterday we were driving to school and they said Papa I'm Papa he's daddy they said I said Papa thanks for clear you ever think when we get older that we'll eat at McDonald's that's fantastic but like like it with some achievement haha and I said well I'm sure you probably will want to McDonald's food is delicious the problem is you haven't eaten any McDonald's food up until now and when you do eat it it'll taste good and then you'll probably get a stomach ache right and that won't feel good so yeah you know it's it's kind of on you David's true with dinners we do family dinners as much as we can and at family dinners we go around and say what we've done during the day and I think we get to use food as an equalizer because we want them to try everything even if they don't like it and and David can cook he's a short-order cook in the mornings Oh which is so annoying to me much to my chagrin that's what I do it's same I'm the same person no no and no yes yes ask my wife here's the thing in the morning the kids get up they're supposed to go and get cereal no they're not supposed to have a parent that says what do you guys want for breakfast and they sit and ponder and then say I'm thinking avvocato toast ha ha with a drizzle of a nice extra virgin olive oil a soft-boiled egg in a lion Cup today and toast points cut up and you have any fresh tomatoes from the rooftop like you have your cereal and the right that upsets me is because when he's not there well I I'm not I did once last week I slept in and I heard I heard commotion downstairs and he let me sleep in so nice but I have I have a hard time if someone's up I'm up you know uh and so I come down and kneels in the kitchen Cohen I need your help I do they want scrambled eggs and I'm trying it's like okay go oh so you are creating don't make me coffee you have created snobs we are getting stopped awful no it's awful I mean it's honestly though not snobbery that's the veteran everything is what it's not it's not this pretentious no they they like good fresh simple stylish simple food that I take time to cook and I tell nobody I tell people it's really true that you create all your memories I believe I don't know if you believe this but I think you create all your memories around the table yeah life's about mmm right it is it's N and you're chilled all set grow up and mimic you because they want to mimic the the daddy mommy whatever happens they are at the table how dare you sir that's all the daddy poppy and they want to mimic that and that's how you caught my memory and that's what you want to do and today to this day I mean every day is like it's like it's like a SWAT team making breakfast and they expect all this stuff and it's the same at my house can't you just say today or having scrambled eggs and you make that what this whole yes oh thank you thank you but they're over a double boiler right David a double boil some salt whip the eggs there you're into butter yeah exact from Potter do a little soft peak on the white the white swine of this guy oh my goodness well okay let's talk about your new show life's a party let's come on boo Network everybody here is from Food Network where are you they're all here somewhere good oh no one showed up there tell us about the show beautiful show oh it's great I you know I was doing we we were asked to be on on a garden show Barefoot Contessa if you know who she is yes did we know it yes the Queen the queen and um best cookbooks she's the best cookbooks foolproof that's true cold moly but she also she also amazing wait wait wait walk away what whoa wait guacamole um but she we were guessing on her show and her producers came up to me they they said you know what you really natural this would you ever want to do a Food Show and I thought I'm acting right now I don't know and then about three months later it was still sitting with me and I called up Rachel at what are the producers at Pacific and I said you know what I think I think it's time to do something she was great let's take a meeting we took a meeting and she said let's do this thing so she we made up we contacted the Food Network they said that they wanted to be a part of it so they greenlit a pilot a special we call it and we made this pilot and I really wanted to be sort of a slice-of-life lifestyle of what our life is I mean what you saw on the pilot is how we how we entertain honestly when we were having dinner with our friends James and Kelly and Rachel and that's it we forgot that the cameras were there at one point it felt so much like what we really do in our life and I mean that's what I do I I love putting special occasions together and I love going above and beyond and making people people feel really special so that's that's sort of what it is and I want it to be accessible recipes for people at middle America feel like they don't have to tackle some big job and little little things where they're decorating tips or maybe one day we'll work on what you should wear or maybe what games to play or maybe a playlist or decorations or something like that a little little things how to make your party special and it will be all about parties and and hopefully you guys all watch it's me it's one of my it's one of my favorite things about David is that when when he is stressed or concerned or upset he goes and cooks do the same thing you know what I mean and and he does that because he cares about the immediacy of making people happy and and and he will put his time and energy into something that takes a lot of time because he's caring about the end result which is interesting as actors because what we do is kind of weirdly the same because we're performing but most often you perform on in front of a camera crew that's not giving you any response and you don't get any response at all until a year later when the something comes out or you are performing for a casting director who says thank you we'll let you know and then you don't really work or you write Broadway and you do it and then you're in it so much that you forget it you're like what did I just do yeah there's a repetition I really felt with the acting thing it it was great and I loved it and it served its purpose in my time but now with the kids it's really hard to do eight shows a week and go off on on location and and not be there for them so I really wanted to be there so I started cooking for a different reasons but it makes me feel so good I love it and what you didn't what it means to do it what you put in into a dish is right there in front of you and the proof is right there and you can see it and you can taste it and you can feel it inside your body making you feel and that's what I just love about cooking but here's where I think the show is cool because what David isn't is a owner of five restaurants around the country that he's done and the Food Network has a ton of those but what David is is someone who is incredible with sort of improvisational cooking and he can throw a party or a lunch or something with with no under very quick circumstances and make it above and beyond what you would think it would be so he can do something anyone can throw a party if they have two weeks to prepare for it because you can sit there and shir and slowly plant it but he can if if ingredients are off he can provides and come up with a way that it's still going to be delicious and I'm I hope that that speaks to the audience of the Food Network because I think there's a there's a market for that person who who has a party to throw for eight people and is sort of overwhelmed by the concerns about how to make that a perfect party and he's really good and especially the kids are in it and I'm in it and I think what's fun about the show is we just kind of come and go and wander and screw things up and he's just a little frazzled by it but we wanted to bond it when he fixes and changes well it's an okay now I'll be messy we want you know that if we're making a gravy and the gravy is too loose oh well all you need is some more some more flour and just thicken it up things like that that people don't really know necessarily how to sort of think on your feet and if you make a mistake how you clean it up how do you how do you bounce back from things that happen a party it's why I can't cook because I feel like I'm only successful if I'm looking at a cookbook and I'm exact with my measurements and everything and if something goes wrong I can't fix it well I think that you're a baker or a pastry chef usually pretty exact sure that sounds to me like like acting and cooking is pretty much the same I mean it's like Broadway three shows a day breakfast lunch and dinner it's like yeah goes up right it's like you're performing really is a culinary arts though in everything every day your performance is slightly different every day you know you go to a restaurant you get a good meal you go back it's like a I wasn't that good tonight yeah for sure I think the same kind of propositional acting is very much like cooking now because some people are so mired in the craft of what they do as an actor that they can only perform if the temperature is exactly what it needs to be and if this cup has to be positioned in a certain way for that you're like oh my god well get on with it well if you're and working at a restaurant but and you're on the line you're you're doing the same thing well as over and over eight shows a week you never turn the weeds and then this is overcooked and you're getting yelled at you have to make it again and there's a 20 top and there's suddenly this VIP person that comes in and you have to and your bang and stuff out I mean that's improv cooking to me in the same way that when you go to a good improv show and see The Groundlings so you see UCB or someone do a show and they're being thrown stuff left and right they can still make a great show out of whatever it is that they have in front of them I think that's a great skill well I think that sometimes like if you don't see the back of the house we tell people never you know if you're in the as we say yeah the shits which means the shits hitting the fan you're so behind our front it could be like you know a ratatouille the brats are ever crawling over the place in our back there the violins playing we're drinking wine no one knows and that's how you have to use so do I have to do that you don't show people your dirty underwear so if the night went good out front you don't tell them how bad it went you don't say we're in the weeds it was awful the person had a great meal they left like why wasn't that lovely and you're killing each other the back of the kitchen firing people so that that's what happens a lot in our business honestly how does it work for you with so many restaurants though do you get do you get updated the next morning about what how often you were in the shits yes Everly Hills yes seriously because you're not able to only have one oh that's really good about Beverly Hills through his three hours it's three hours behind so that I get updated at nine o'clock in the morning which is 6 a.m. which is when they finish out so that I get that like in New York City I get updated 5 o'clock in the morning my time so I know exactly what happened how many sales how many covers I read the whole managers log which is awful especially we round the John you reading the managers long like oh my god John had an awful meal but does that mean that you because we're fans of yours and and the fact that you're able to manage shows restaurants and then still go on and cook like stupid ridiculous food on camera on a want rate see in and out no no no no no that I but I'm interested in that because you you can't be singular and you don't know very hard it's very how do you deal with when things are going badly do you have to go bad they go bad and people you know people make up excuses and they make you feel better like yeah we're very sorry meals late or you know we're very sorry this happened and you you manage it correct like you correct it it's just life is a bucket of mistakes and you just get over it somehow and you do I mean it's like it's live every night is live every single night breakfast lunch and dinner so yeah there's no tape you know a lot let's stop you can't put the curtain back down you know it's up its up yeah and it's just a kid and we're like rehearsing and rehearsing rehearsing before it opens and then when you open it's it's you running you know what happens you may the same mistakes that you you got over and you will never make those mistakes the first day you make the same mistake and that's what happens you just get through it speaking of mistakes boom Segway Segway who is the best host of the Academy Awards ever except to get that Billy Chris Billy Crystal no never yes absolutely he was gonna host in 2017 you think the Oscars yeah um well that's interesting question because they went James Corden no it's on ABC this year oh so every year at ABC so that they would either use an ABC person I thought Jimmy Kimmel did a great job at the Emmys but that may be double dipping in a way that the Academy might think is just too much I would say they do they'd head towards diversity and maybe use an a-list actor of some ethnicity that would be funny and interesting event well what I want to know is like everybody here I know wants to know this how in God's name do you prepare for that because for me when I want when I see that it's not like there's a certain amount of information that you get and here you go prepare the information comes hourly daily it might be because of some debate coming up it just comes every it's coming at you all the to hiding prepare and when you're at home are you cooking for him is he going nuts and what's the prize Los Angeles and I was rehearsing a Broadway show so it was a very crazy time he was he was gone in LA and I went to your year old you were cept we're separate yeah a year before we got the offer it was non-stop all the time jokes and who he's gonna get and what he's gonna do you do your own material 100 percent no no well yeah yeah you do well you approve everything you have a list of writers but he's 90% you're 90% doing the ideas and the job I take no ownership of being a writer of my own comedy at all I have a specific style that I think is kind of it's kind of glib and funny and I sort of know I'm a big fan of dad humor and puns and stuff that's that's why but kind of silly because I do feel that audiences that are that are there live in their dresses and and nervous with their names of people that they may have to say but they probably won't and they're all at there's a very weird energy in a room that I think those kind of fun light jokes make them feel at home instead of mean sort of acerbic jokes I don't and it at home I don't know that they're as successful they don't land at this in the same way my path to from hosting a word trust has been very strange I was asked to host the ovation Awards which is essentially the the West Coast theatre awards non-televised and it was many years ago and I thought oh that's weird sure they'll be fun and so my friend Paul Greenberg who's a writer and a funny guy and I went did it and we had all these funny dumb bits that we did and it was fun it was great they asked us to host it me to host it again the next year and then it turned into the TV Land Awards they wanted me to host that a year after Kelly Ripa had done it and that was televised and strange but it seems so weird you don't audition for any of this they just kind of get this weird email or phone call so I did that and that was fun and it just sort of slowed then I was on CBS and then CBS had the the Tonys and then asked me I'd hosted Tony's which seemed was was crazy I loved Broadway and a lot more times and so I did that and that was really fun and then it just and then all of a sudden I had hosted the Emmys which was weird than a video game then I would feel you gave your baby too much there you go then the Warren Awards in Vegas yeah yep the Telemundo award I and and I just thanks Oh Telemundo words I'm sorry I'm sorry I know I don't speak Spanish very well so then the Oscar thing comes up and I and it's it's a bucket list thing that unbeliev it seems impossible to not want to do and yet if you try if you if you say that you want to do it it feels like you're pandering and trying to get the gig and if you say you don't ever want to do it that seems weird and odd too so I said yes knowing that it's a big giant sort of bullseye on the back of whoever hosts that show I told them not to do it you did yeah why I think it's hard in that position aren't you it's a hard show it's a hard room it's no one by this time by the Oscars all of those people have gone through a whole year from Cohn to the Oscars doing the same interviews the same questions and everyone is exhausted and no one necessarily wants to be there because the press line is two hours long they sit in their chair and it's a for our ceremony most more hours most of those people have already and everyone they already know who's gonna win pretty much why is that how can that be well because what about the it stays in the knowledge no I don't mean it that way but it's that it's the 12th or 13th award show in the movie year cycle it's the last one so the Golden Globes have happened the People's Choice Awards have happened the the DGA Awards have happened the the Screen Actors Guild Awards have happened like all of these awards have happened so if Julianne Moore has won 11 out of 12 you know everyone who's nominated for Best Actress except for Julianne Moore is kind of going through the motions they still have to look fantastic they're going to be judged on their dress they can't eat for the week before they get there but they have to do the same interviews and pretend that they're super chipper when they pretty much know that Julianne Moore is going to win and then they sit there for 4 hours before they finally get to lead actress and then they don't win right so but yeah it's an illusion necessarily lose-lose situation because um you the host is necessarily the one that sort of on the next day it's not about who won or whatever it so what did he do a good job did she do a good job and I also you like I don't know about let me let me have to break in there because I don't feel like people necessarily on the host what what I do think is interesting about the the gig and a little masochistic about it is that you do spend a lot of time micromanaging just about everything it's a gigantic audience of a hundred million people that are watching it and and as soon as it's done and the next day goes on they're just thinking about the next movie that they're going to see so all of it all of the time that you spend on it comes happen happens as a one-off that is never ever even seen again it's not a movie that you do that then you can't watch later it just goes away you remember who won and who lost and a couple of things that went wrong and that's sort of the net you can't end there don't do it also I think I think the Oscars really determine if it's going to be successful if the movies are successful that year that's true they sign up the hosts well before the movies are locked so you don't know if it's going to be an exciting year for movies Wow okay if there's a thank you my darling I thought you were Chris Rock if there if there's a way for you to see the movies that are going to be there then I think it's easier for the hoes to sign up because you know if there's a big blockbuster movies people are probably going to tune in more it's true GZ if I may this was this is how I would propose that one that they could that they could make the Oscars angularly more enjoyable telecast I think they should add a category I think they should take the Best Feature Film category hmm the big one and they should split it into two I think they should make the best blockbuster film and they should make the best independent film and I don't know what that line would be but monitor but when you have mix when you have star wars the force awakens going against Brooklyn yeah they're so different and and and there's so much talent that goes into a big giant movie like guardians of the galaxy or these big giant movies that that for some reason it's sort of poo pooed by the Academy who are much more in line with these independent films and so what's happening now I think is that is that the producers know when to release an independent film that's starring two people and a breakout person right before the festival circuit so that they can get on the track to get and all of a sudden you wind up with five or seven films that are nominate for best movie that most people haven't seen yeah so you're now we're seeing the Oscars where people are not seeing any of these movies so the host is out there doing jokes about movies that most people don't understand the context of the joke I think at the expense of cinema so that would be how that that's the one thing that I would say would be fun to change but but that being said I love watching them so I would never say I didn't have a good time and I and I know I love we go oh I love I loved I loved I don't dressing casually I love I love eating chips and queso and and talking about how awful everyone looks and and and and mocking how it all goes that's kind of what you do for the Oscars well movies are completely different than theater and you both have been in so much theater but I have a question about movies if you don't mind it's a very personal question okay okay so editing and the camera the viewer sees things that we might not want to see or imagine what we're seeing so you just did a movie which I thought was fantastic did anybody see gone girl hmm I was riveted and and I thought I knew was going to happen I didn't that was amazing I all I have to say is there was a involved scene between you and the husband Rosamund aisle Rosamund Pike RP as I have it here how do how do you prepare for a scene that's so intimate in is there a body double nobody doubles it all it was david fincher who am a massive fan of is the director of the movie and and and he does unbelievable work and if you and if you're lucky enough to be asked to join and play in that sandbox you would be remiss to say that there are things that you didn't want to do so i was excited by the notion that i got to play someone who was twisted and dark ian and then ended up ended up in a very sexual situation and a sort of shocking twist it was shock within within the film she slits my throat in the middle of of us banging spoiler banging so she's banging I didn't say that I'm just trying to like not talk around it but it's on DVD so if you missed it that's what happens though it was still filming it was weird because oh how did you how did a we're house were trumping for days I always wonder like what how does that happen you have three kids right look at but not on camera Oh I mean is it rehearse I'm serious it's SuperDuper rehearsed and David Fincher again to his credit he knows how to edit and he knows how cameras work and he knows how to time a day he knew that if we were fumbling around with the sex scene that when he needed a shot at a specific time or when it was crucial to have something happen and we flopped on the bed in this direction and we didn't do the same thing both takes he would have to choose between one or the other so it was very important to him that the sex scene was rehearsed and rehearsed robotically for hours and hours and hours in Roseman and I went with him we talked about it and he said what he wanted like very very methodically then your pants go down and I want your hands around but not on his butt but like below his butt like that and then and then she's going to blow you but it's going to be like like four ins and outs and then throw you back on the bed but throw you about I mean and very similar to our so we just so for ever and we were laughing because it just we just try it again here we go because and sure enough it was great because then so you didn't wing it I mean this is practiced super practice to what angle we were on and every number of things that happened because at the end of it it got really really bloody because she slits my throat with a box cutter and then I sort of bleed out while she holds on to me right after I reach orgasm which is which is intentional for her so so while that's all happening there's just blood gushing everywhere we're filming on a soundstage so that they could remove the walls back replace the bed replace the carpet we completely showered and change they replaced all the bedding they were played and they would all come and pop back and we'd do it again and and honestly like that to me is why acting is fun right because no I mean that super see what have I done no I spent I spent a lot of time you're talking it in great detail weirdly about the Oscars and hosting and about about the Food Show and things like that and that's all fun but it's it's in a sort of safe space you know there's something there's something weirdly intimate and dangerous about about being nervous in front of David Fincher and trying to execute your a Plus game in a situation that's foreign to you because I don't know Rosalind very well but I have to act and we're doing something very intimate and very physical and and dying which you're clearly acting but having to do that over and over at that level was it was I was in the big leagues you know I felt like I was really I was I was playing hard and so I really like to do now that was one look creepy but fun okay audience questions yeah beat that audio are you ready okay this is for you Neil you have co-hosted live with Kelly a few times mm and I was just there I had a great time last week by the way do you want to be her permanent co-host if not who should be nice nice question um we're both very good friends with Kelly and Mark and and our kids and their kids get along super well so we see them socially a lot and so anytime they asked me to come and play it's a super-fun gig but I have no interest at all in doing it all year long it's hard show could be their all time dates they offered you they offered it to you oh I know it that's so absolutely not true hey they well before Mike or the michael strowman after it happened we were we were locked about the possibility of would that even be a possibility they wanted to and even back then I what age what I'm a big fan of and what I'm proud of most about my professional life is the diversification and the fact that I get to do theater and movies and TV and all over the band I get to go all over the place and now that we have a family I have no interest in just having to be in one place I'm doing this Netflix show that's in Vancouver for almost half the year and after that I don't know what happens and so to commit to something where you're doing pretty much all year long you have to be you could get something in the afternoon but you couldn't go do a Star Wars movie if I'm not doing a Star Wars movie but I'd love to and if that you know it's something like that would be super amazing fun too so who would I think would be best I think Anderson Cooper would be the perfect host for that yes I agree because and here's why because Anderson is so awesome and nice and funny but his job requires him to sit and read and be so in the middle because he's required you know he's he's required to tell the news that's what he does but he has so many fun opinions so when you see him at the New Year's thing with Kathy Griffin it's fun to see him cutting loose and if I think would be so fun to see Angela in the morning with Kelly hanging out being himself and not having to really be doing hard-hitting years everything that's great answer David this is for you what are your favorite go to restaurants in New York City thanks Tom thanks Tom thanks thanks Tom oh man oh lambs club thank you again tom butter butter Raider oh there's a lot of I mean up there depends on what it is you know we um we up we live up in Harlem so we order Street bird a lot from seemless we love Marcus Samuelsson we live right around the corner from Red Rooster so that is what can tackle it is is great up there I love going to Batali's restaurants and the thing about New York is that you can go to so many great places and and the takeout is you know double shine or take Route immunity's what about the cuisines what about Thai food uh one of the boons boons is fantastic uncle boons will give me some more what about Chinese food uh Chinatown uh going down to what's that place called I don't know what it's called but I know how to even Chinese takeout like you said would you can go what about Italian food ah that's hard one well I like didn't go high end or low end I love I love lupa because it's so cash and you get those big communal tables and get a big group over there and uh plans great what about what about bones great what about Bobby Flay's Oh God Otto it back a fantastic there's more Spanish Mediterranean lilyc Reed Mexican food Toto watching to watch is great delicious so uh nachos nachos you love nacho from Albuquerque man green chili anything oh I just oh the kids the kids how old it gets six seven bits nacho what do you pack for lunch they have lunch at school they have chefs yeah it was that quick Mike Michael Anthony comes in and cooks for that Wow I've Anthony's kids go Gramercy Tavern another great restaurant Dalton so Dan barber also his kids went there he's a graduate of Dalton so they know food they're lucky we send our kids with school up here on the Upper East Side and they have a published chef I was like wow it's fantastic right it's just I mean what's your favorite restaurant cake are you allowed to say yeah what's your favorite say what I want uh my new favorite restaurant God there's just so many something ridiculous what what uh who's in there you calling me my hair a little bird in the audience oh cool it's cooked with the name of Arthur cuckoo I've been there downtown that Daniel roses new place oh really oh yes great is it's a car it's like Jones I Rose is an American who 15 or 20 years ago moved to Paris from Chicago and opened just a little restaurant called spring in Paris and it was you know daring cuz this who's this American to come to our country uh open her song uh-huh and he got like two Michelin stars and it has this tiny restaurant just he just he's a cook it's a very simple food and Stephen Starr brought him here and open up cuckoo down insects in China walls in Chinatown down on Lafayette Anna and it's great god I love it you can say anything you want what's your least favorite restaurant that just dope don't make him do that I won't do that he will not do that I'm just kidding all right - mr. burka and mr. Harris yes present aside from spending time with your kids what's your ideal Saturday night sleeping night weird well I really love getting together with Neil the kid putting the kids down making some popcorn and watching a movie like really work simple stuff since we're since we have gotten older we really love the downtime it's so nice just to chill out maybe watch some crappy TV and and go to bed really honestly for me I mean also it's fun to have friends over and make a dinner and and then just have fun and maybe play some games but that never happens anymore oh you too busy rehearsing nice movie scenes I would say like 5:30 margarita and chips and guacamole Attila watch a and then go to see Hamilton and then uh after that go have dinner ever uh well we were just talking about a backstage Ralph Lorenz plays oh oh oh low club that was separate fund we've got so fancy noise fashionable celebrity people there oh snap there's so-and-so sitting there cause snap and then I love their debt go to sleep that corned beef sandwich fantastic I guess the best thing they give away it they stay here I think that's my favorite going to a restaurant and oh yeah sitting and and not ordering anything on the menu it's telling the way tell him I love waiter I do all the chef's please bring us food that what you think would be good were we were out with our son I love it we were out with Gideon wants and he told the waiter we were like let's just get stuff let's just get stuff from the menu so getting I said Gideon wanting you order he looked at the waiter he said wow us the waiter was like what's going on what I don't know what is this wha wha wha what is this a fish is a fish but wow wow us so you would this if you kneel okay so Times Square you're now coming to Time Square thanks a lot we need another restaurant there your co-creator of a magic themed immersive theater and nightlife project yeah please tell me about that please do tell and you're getting into the restaurant biz not really well not really kind of kind of um I'm joining forces with the gang uh who did the box and Sleep No More and Queen of the Night and they bought a rented space they've leased a property on 57th Street between 8th and 9th which was once called Providence and oh yes it's a big space a big event space and they want to do a new show have a new venue that's got some magical elements to it so they asked me to come on board with my production company prediction productions and and help co-create and co-direct a show the interesting thing about immersive theater is that by design it's it's it's there's no box with which to form it's not based on any previous material the way Sleep No More is based on Macbeth right we're really coming up with a new idea and through it becomes very nebulous and and changes a lot so what was once very Sleep No More with lots of walk through rooms and have one-on-one experiences and meet a cast of people who have backstories and interactions with each other and very dance based thing is now sort of shifted into maybe a simpler variety ish type of thing would have been interesting with an interesting take on it I think there's something to be done in that realm south of the Columbus Circle but north of brought of the Broadway world because thousands and thousands of people get out of their shows around 10:30 1042 and they don't know where to go and I think there's a great audience to go somewhere so we're we have an idea for a show that would happen from 8:00 to 10:30 as a show that you could see and then you could stick around and you would see acts that would happen within these spaces after that but yeah I'm very into magic and a friend of mine Derek Delgado's had his show in in LA that was a big sold-out thing called well it's going to be coming here soon we did I directed him in a show called nothing to hide and I'm a big fan of just people watching magic I think magic super cool very cool new chef well it's weird we met with some chefs for it because it was originally going to be a dining experience honey I missed that call sick you're knee-deep in Beverly Hills when we were having those conversations and so and it has a very small ish kitchen so we're even reconsidering then the dinner theater is a very interesting to crack it's hard but I love it it were hard because you have people with their own culinary ideas of what is worth the money that they're spending so when you're when you're combining food and theater then what's your price point do you go a hundred you do $200 right for the evening show which would be a hundred and 100 bucks anyway plus 100 bucks for a meal but if you're sitting down and you put $200 then you want really really good food and in a theater experience with a smallish kitchen you're not going to provide really great food and if you provide mediocre food then the show is going to suck because everyone's going to be sitting there feeling like that they've been there long and then you so you that's a very hard one that's what are you gonna do what do you think I suspected that the food thing will be marginalized a lot it'll probably be more of a show and drinks and maybe some small bites of things that you can get of an interesting style I don't want to give away too much because again it's not set in stone what we're doing but I think our take on variety and magic right now as it sits would be would be certainly something that hasn't been seen before and I think the food would be dictated by that Wow I'm very excited cool in my hood all right we're gonna end a little word association game gooo hey all right James Lipton come on really I'm just kidding okay um this you can both same time one or the other you can answer this again collective or as separate or I would like each one of you to answer separately how about we do every other one but that's a cop-out but okay okay every other one well I'm just saying he's going to go first on this one he's gonna say something then it's gonna take me to another place Oh interesting well that might be more fun then let's do okay okay David your first holidays Christmas or Halloween Christmas Halloween oh you Anna okay Halloween and who you gonna be this year we do a big family Halloween costume thing every year so we like to we like to not reveal it until Halloween happens and we hope that our children will play along the works I don't know if that's gonna happen all right this is you know toast light or dark light ah David live eating we took light yeah both yeah just a little spongy in the inside but crisp on the outside got it dark toast I think I'm having a stroke got it reading paper or digital paper yeah now one of my first jobs is working in a bookstore so I love paper I love the smell of books and pages and I love I love organizing books by size and type I just spent the last three days later I'm doing that's a paper for sure chocolate milk or dark milk milk milk mr. dark ah milk milk milk alcohol tequila or gin tequila tequila Fitness yogurt or weights Oh gotta have both sorry ah yoga yoga really I'm more in Jogja and yeah I see a bunch of people at the gym who care more about weights and I worry that they're just gonna end up old with man boobs I think practical strength is the way to be those Cirque du Soleil people who look like their main rony people in t-shirts and jeans but they can do a slow press into it one-handed handstand that's what I so what are you both to to you workout obviously what do you do Dave well I do mix uh uh yoga I love soul cycle you do that's so much fun I take soul cycle every Friday with miss kelly ripa so much fun once a week wasn't she's the instructor we have our little date yeah well every Friday um and then I do weights you know twist it twice a week maybe some elliptical a jog now on that if it's nice Nilay so I love bikes I see photos of you in gyms all over Los Angeles oh really no you sent me it was a cry I love yeah i'm more into sort of the crossfit sort of practical strength unless into lifting weight weight weight and more into into keeping my body's fit and and flexible and lean I wish I was a better I keep bringing it back to Hamilton but when I watched those dancers in Hamilton and the way they can move and it's a little bit hip-hop but it has such great body awareness and I feel so just like my body doesn't move it the same ways at the same time when I'm just freely dancing so I want to have I want I'm always trying to get body awareness plus plus with jobs that I taking I shift my try to shape my body a lot so for Hedwig when I did that a couple years back I thought I wanted to be very feminine because I was I was playing Hedwig who was a woman and and so I lost 23 pounds or something I was laying this frame now is 148 pounds or something in that you could see the bones his back it was hot huh and Count Olaf in this what I'm doing right now I want him to be very healer yeah angular and sort of round and long you know long and sinewy so you know um here's a good visual of the Cirque du Soleil show Oh in Vegas the water show is anyone familiar with that one yes all ish so there's a one of the main images is sort of a guy yes umbrella and he's sort of the black and white sort of older clown and he's very frowny but everything is just very sort of hunched over and sort of pointed so I'm trying to get my body to be very like long and round I'm weird weird zero gem for that if there is is one in New York City like Equinox I I have a trainer you want Alex who's great and he's been doing a lot of stuff called animal flow which Equinox actually does which is sort of being in sort of animilitia positions almost cat cow you know the cat kinda thing but with your knees are up and then from that you can take movements forward they all thought different names for there's you know the crawling beast and the gecko and all of these different things you can do to sort of different parts of your body this is so much more interesting than the presidential debate by the way I think so all right a couple more now we're gonna finish all right Travel Beach or ski bah ah me too uh-uh management of time last minute or well ahead well ahead last minute really God our lives are just there there's it's your last in league I'm not a by choice I'm just things change so much and I've and we keep trying to set things and a schedule that's set and then it doesn't change and our you get your expectations one way and the one thing I'm learning in life at 43 is that expectations will will kill you to expectations ya know they're the one thing if you think if you're expecting your friends that come over to behaving a certain way and they're not you're upset at them if you're expecting dinner to go a certain way and it's not if you're expecting your spouse to come home and be a certain way and they're not if you're expecting your kids to have done your and I'm trying so hard to just know that whatever is happening when it's happening is happening and it's it's your responsibility to process it as it's happening so I guess that would make things sort of last minute you know alright I'm a I'm a planner though I live you are you're a chef and I need lists and I know you know this and that an 8 B 7 same way and when things get off I have to earn brain red lights sirens so if you'll and our life is crazy it's always changing it's always so if there's a six o'clock flight you and I there at 3 o'clock getting manicures right yeah ok do you get to the airport super early hours early really kills my wife oh I'm not that crazy sometimes we go in separate cars I just I freaked out about missing a flight Wow and what happens if you miss a flight I never do all right oh here's an interesting one audrey hepburn breakfast at tiffany's or funny face I thought she was asking the question oh I say funny face cuz her in those dance sequences with Gene Kelly amazing no Fred Astaire sorry professor are just unbelievable it's just yeah playing this breakfast at tiffany's yeah cartoons Looney Tunes or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse oh I have to say Looney Tunes cuz they're so they're so wack they're so wrong they're so twisted yeah Mel Blanc thought voiced a lot most of the voices in those and he was so good at being everybody and those are sort of darker old-school darker but I'm such a Disney fan though I mean I watched that weird robot it's not hand-drawn I like those new Mickey Mouse cartoons that they have that you can well yeah the old school wants are they more into creepy and those are fun but it's weird to watch goofy like it's a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and I'm just dancing a nice weird CG God we watched a lot of those though yeah kids were really into those right when they started watching TV and like two points is the last one oh it's about singing oh you both sing yes who's the better singer Oh David you're the better singer David yeah seriously we studied musical theater in college I didn't go to college so he yeah he's he's got a higher range than I do okay so singing uh in the shower or in the rain I don't like the rain so much uh you know but Gene Kelly doing it on the lamppost nothing like a cool that's a great question and I gotta say singing in the shower because the echo yeah you said really good antics our good acoustics I'm really good at Hamilton in the shower like I could win awards for that I'm not singing any you know right word you know I don't know everything - Hamilton though I know every song is crazy are you okay son - our son is like nuts about it nuts about it anyway there's this new show you should try and get a ticket it's called Hamilton just go up to the box office say you want any tickets it'll be fine guys that is all I got ladies and gentlemen Neil Patrick Harris David Burtka thank you so much thank you thank you maybe

Channel: The 92nd Street Y, New York

Views: 68,211

Keywords: 92Y, 92nd Street Y, Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, Geoffrey Zakarian

Id: KxAVZqUXsZ0

Length: 61min 53sec (3713 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 27 2017