Hurray for Neil Patrick Harris

This is the best entertainment news we’ve heard all week. If you could think of one person who you just know would nail the Oscar hosting gig like the pro that he is, it’s Neil Patrick Harris.

He’s hilarious, his comic timing is unparalleled, but most important of all for an Oscar host, he’s affable. As for whether he’ll tear strips out of the celebrity guests before him? We’ll that’s all part of the role, but we reckon he’ll pull it off in a way that’s still somewhat endearing.

No doubt, he’ll fare better than the polarising Seth MacFarlane, he’ll succeed in pushing Anne Hathaway and James Franco further back into the annals of our memory (god, that was just painful, wasn’t it?) and he could well knock Ellen Degeneres off her hosting high horse as the Oscars’ favourite, but only time will tell.

Hosting is nothing new for Harris, having mc’d the Tonys and the Emmys a bunch of times thus far.

Neil shared the news with a video in which he strikes the final thing off his bucket list, which you can watch below, followed by an official statement.

“It is truly an honor and a thrill to be asked to host this year’s Academy Awards. I grew up watching the Oscars and was always in such awe of some of the greats who hosted the show. To be asked to follow in the footsteps of?Johnny Carson,?Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres, and everyone else who had the great fortune of hosting is a bucket list dream come true.”

Do you think he’s the right man for the job? Or would you have preferred to see Tina Fey and Amy Poehler of Golden Globe hosting fame give it a go?

@CarolineForan