Now for the news roundup I promised:

• Michael Ausiello from Entertainment Weekly reports that CBS has signed off on Neil’s guest appearance on FOX’s Glee. The only remaining hurdle is making sure that it can fit into Neil’s already hectic schedule!
• Popeater is reporting that Neil is being lined up to star in a new revival of “Barnum” on Broadway. Neil has talked many times about his interest in that role, though he has stated that he’s still too young for it. This new report reveals that Neil is the producer’s “only choice” – what isn’t clear, however, is the timescale in question. It’s likely this won’t be taking place imminently, but simply that whenever it does, Neil is a shoe-in for the part.
• The Superbowl is on CBS this year (this coming Sunday, Feb 7) and there’s some HIMYM related cross-promotion happening on Twitter. Craig and Carter go into a little more detail in this interview from the time of the 100th episode promotion.
• The Best and the Brightest, which Neil shot this summer, is now on Twitter and you can become a fan on Facebook. They’re calling it a “social media explosion” and they’ve been posting pictures and holding contests so far, so check them out!

Finally, there’s a lot of talk in the media that Neil should replace Simon Cowell as a full time judge on American Idol when he leaves at the end of this season. His guest stint was loved by the critics, but what do you think about him taking on the role full time? I think that without Simon, and knowing that Neil is good friends with both Ellen and Kara, there might not be enough differences of opinion to keep it interesting. And that’s before you even think about working it into his schedule, especially now with the news that HIMYM has been renewed for season 6.

First, the upcoming: Neil will be taking part in Days 17 and 18 of the SF Sketchfest. On January 30th at 8pm, and January 31st at 7pm, Neil will be appearing in “Celebrity Autobiography” alongside Rachel Dratch, Lesley Ann Warren, Fred Willard and more. Tickets are $35 for the event, taking place at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco, California, and you can purchase them here.

FOX today released their American Idol schedule for season 9. The show kicks off on Tuesday January 12th, in Boston. Neil sat in on the auditions in Dallas, which are set to air Tuesday, Jan. 26 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT).

The year is almost over and Neil is appearing on “best of” lists all over the place, including People magazine’s most intriguing people of the year, and places him at #2 on Buddy TV’s Breakout Star of 2009 list.

His Emmy’s hosting gig makes AOL TV’s Top Moments of 2009, Canada.com list him on their 2009 “Naughty and Nice” list, there’s an Honourble Mention on AfterElton’s 2009 Visibility Awards in the Theatrical Event category, for his Tony’s hosting gig. And for HIMYM, he makes TV Guide’s 25 Best Performances of the Year.

Reacting to his Golden Globe nod, Neil joked that he’d like a gift from CBS. “Maybe this year CBS or Fox will give me a new car. Didn’t they do that with all the ‘Will & Grace‘ people once? Didn’t they give them all Miatas for getting nominations or something? One can dream!”

Finally, Advocate.com has a little more from Neil’s acceptance speech at the Trevor Project event back on December 5th.

Neil talks with Entertainment Weekly about his guest judging stint on American Idol. He reveals as part of the interview that he, Josh and Jason have just completed a photoshoot for an upcoming issue of Playboy. It’s to coincide with the launch of the show, so it’s quite possibly the October issue, due out in late Sept.

In addition to his appearance on next Friday (Sept 4th)’s Letterman, Neil will also be checking in with Craig Ferguson on Septmeber 8th.

As mentioned on our Twitter, Neil is on the cover of this month’s issue of Genii magazine. You can order the issue on their website.

Finally, Neil is supporting the Get Schooled campaign. “Get Schooled is a national platform that connects, inspires and mobilizes people – from policymakers and corporate leaders to communities and kids – to find effective solutions to the problems facing our education system. It provides resources and information, community outreach and creative programming that engage a range of audiences around America’s education crisis.” You can check out his video message here. He is also once again supporting the What Book Got You Hooked? campaign. Now through September 30, readers everywhere are invited to share the first book that made reading fun for them and then help get more kids hooked by voting for the state to receive 50,000 new books for low-income youth.

Neil sat in on auditions in Dallas on Tuesday, the latest in a line of celebrities to act as a guest judge following the departure of Paula Abdul.

There’s been various snippets of Neil related news and articles over the last couple of days. Neil was in the audience again for American Idol last night, and eonline talked briefly to him about contestant Adam Lambert and a couple of words on the HIMYM finale.

There are a couple of new videos from the Streamys – iJustine talks to Neil just after he won his award and “Dr. Horrible Makes Me Blush” by Mary Rambin on Vimeo.

Finally, NPH-Fan.com would like to send our congratulations to Alyson Hannigan & Alexis Denisof on the birth of their daughter.

Lots of bits and pieces added to the gallery! Caps from the second and third featurettes on the Dr Horrible DVD, caps from this week’s HIMYM episode, the World Magic Awards from October, and some shots of Neil in the audience of American Idol on the first and second weeks of top 36 eliminations. There’s also arrivals photos from the Academy of Magical Arts awards, Neil & David watching the LA Lakers, the original versions of the Saturday Night Live transition cards, and Neil arriving at the opening night of the Rent National Tour’s LA stop. So lots for you to check out!

In other news – CBS has ordered four HIMYM scripts for the 2009-2010 season. According to TV Week, “the early order is designed to give producers a head start on planning the show’s fifth year. While technically not the same as an early renewal, the script order makes it a virtual certainty that “HIMYM” will be back next fall”. HIMYM has been performing impressively in the ratings this year, and made the top 20 shows of the week with last week’s episode, The Stinsons. The ratings dropped around 3m this week, but that was to be expected due to the return of Dancing with the Stars in the same timeslot on FOX.

In the final of the March Madness Steel Cage competition mentioned in the last post, Barney is losing to Supernatural‘s Dean Winchester by 500 votes. You’ve only got a few hours left to vote, so please do!!

Thanks to the wonderful Bri from KristenWiigfan.com, we’ve added three HQ Saturday Night Live stills to the gallery.

Other news – Neil was in the American Idol audience again last night – caps from last week and last night to come as soon as I get a chance to sort them out! He’ll also be appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show next Monday (March 2nd), presumably to talk about the Academy of Magic Awards which he’ll be hosting and co-producing a week on Sunday.

We’ve got updates galore in the gallery in the last week or so – with pictures from the Writer’s Guild Awards, the Levi’s pre-Oscars “Milk” party for Dustin Lance Black and Gus Van Sant, and last night’s 6th Annual Global Green pre-Oscars party. We’ve also added caps from Neil’s 1988 movie Purple People Eater.

Other snippets of news: CBS’s press release for the March 9th HIMYM episode “Sorry, Bro”, reveals that David Burtka will again be appearing as Scooter, as well as Cobie’s fiance Taran Killam reprising his role as Marshall’s colleague Blauman.

Neil and David were in the audience for Tuesday’s American Idol – caps are on their way to the gallery for that.

Neil (along with David, and anybody else who’s been on Broadway ever, pretty much) answered BroadwayWorld.com’s Valentine’s Day question: What’s the Most Romantic Broadway Love Song Ever? Neil’s answer displays a Barney Stinson-esque use of the “possimpible” technique:  “Love Has Come Of Age” from the JEKYLL & HYDE album with Colm Wilkinson. His voice is phenomimazing! I’ve always dreamed of that song being sung at my wedding, but only if Colm’ll sing it himself. Probably a long shot…”

Finally, keep an eye on MagicNewsWire over the next few days – we’ve had a heads up from Dodd Vickers that he’s just finished editing an audio interview with Neil and we can expect it on the site soon. They chat about “everything from his love of magic and role as a member of the Board of Directors of the Magic Castle to Dr. Horrible.”