Neil Patrick Harris Turned Down Chance to Replace Letterman on 'The Late Show'

Stephen Colbert is set to take over for David Letterman on “The Late Show,” but he wasn't the only one in the running.

It turns out CBS CEO Leslie Moonves and Entertainment President Nina Tassler floated the idea past Neil Patrick Harris as well.

NPH revealed the news to Howard Stern, explaining, "Not in conversation, like, about to be a deal, but they called me in and sat me down and asked if that would be something that I'd be interested in doing.”

The Emmy winner declined the offer, telling Stern, "I was surprised that [Moonves] pitched me that idea. I think I would get bored of the repetition fast, and the structure of it is so set. I don't have any interest in doing monologue, commercial, sketch, guest, guest, guest, musical act, 'Good night.'"

The “How I Met Your Mother” star said he would rather do a weekly variety show. "I like this weekly variety show. A weekly thing, you'd have more time to prep for stuff, you could do pre-taped stuff that would be really exciting, you could flesh it out a little bit more, have more acts and not just do nightly."