Before it was announced that Stephen Colbert would be replacing David Letterman on The Late Show, CBS actually offered it to How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris.
Harris, who is currently starring on Broadway’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, told Howard Stern he was approached by the network heads, Les Mooves and Nina Tassler, two years ago.
“I was surprised he pitched me that idea. I sat for a minute with it and I told them the things that concerned me … I think I would get bored of the repetition fast, and the structure of it is so set,” Harris explained, USA Today reports.
He added that he’d much rather want to do a “weekly variety thing,” which might still be happening.
Harris also told Stern, “I don’t have any interest in doing monologue, commercial, sketch, guest, guest, musical act, goodnight.”
CBS announced Colbert would be taking over for Letterman last month, when Letterman retires in 2015. He reportedly signed a 5-year deal.