After successfully hosting last year’s Academy of Magical Arts Awards, Neil will again be taking on hosting duties for the 42nd Annual AMAs, taking place on April 11th at the Avalon Theatre, Hollywood.

The Academy of Magical Arts, Inc. & The Magic Castle present the The 42nd Annual Awards of The Academy of Magical Arts, Inc. A highly anticipated entertainment tradition, The Academy of Magical Arts, Inc. 42nd Annual Awards Show celebrates the lavish world of mystery and illusion by gathering the top magicians from all over the world for one star-studded spectacular night. This year’s ceremonies will be hosted by Broadway, television and motion picture star Neil Patrick Harris. The night will include performances by Yo Kato, Ed Alonzo, John Calvert, Andrew Goldenhersh, Armando Lucero, Jeff Hobson, The Great Tomsoni & Co. and more! Producers: Neil Patrick Harris & Matt Patton. Writer: David Regal.

The pre-show cocktail reception starts at 5pm with the show itself starting at 7pm. Tickets are available for between $75-200, email broman@magiccastle.com for more details.

In other news, some further casting details have been released for the Smurfs movie. Glee star Jayma Mays has been cast as Neil’s pregnant wife in the live-action/CGI hybrid. This is being hailed by some as a “Glee reunion”, but don’t forget they’ve worked together before, when she played “Coat Check Girl” in season one of HIMYM.

The NY Post has a photo of Neil on the Glee set (spoilers only for his outfit), and the Beastly camp have released a couple of new photos from the movie, one of which contains Neil and can be seen at Entertainment Weekly.

The pilot for the US version of The Cube, which Neil is set to host, is filming in London this coming Thursday, February 4th, at Fountain TV Studios, Wembley Park. You can apply for free audience tickets from Lost in TV. Doors open at 6pm and close at 6.15, and the taping will last approximately 4 hours. The minimum age is 12 and under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

Snacks and soft drinks will be provided during the break.

The hit UK TV gameshow THE CUBE is coming to U.S. Television. This is a gameshow with a twist – no general knowledge or physical fitness is required – just nerves of steel and determination. Contestants go head to head with the Cube as they complete simple tasks, under pressure, to win life changing amounts of money.

The Cube is a format originally produced by ITV and hosted by Philip Schofield. The set is already built; presumably should CBS pick up the series, a replica of the set would be built in the US for regular filming.

According to The Wrap’s TV MoJoe, Neil is on course to shoot a pilot for an American version of British game show, The Cube. Hosted by Brit favourite Philip Schofield, The Cube traps contestants inside a perspex cube, forcing them to complete relatively simple tasks in a stressful situation. Like Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, the contestant is able to improve their chances against the game; instead of Phone A Friend or 50:50, The Cube offers the chance to “Simplify” each game.

Perhaps trying to prove there’s absolutely nothing he can’t do, the “How I Met Your Mother” star will fly to London later this year to tape a pilot for an American adaptation of “The Cube.” CBS will then decide whether to move forward with a series order.

In addition to hosting, Harris will also serve as executive producer of the Objective TV-produced series. Also exec producing: Adam Adler, Andrew Newman and Andrew O’Connor.

“The Cube” is a deceptively simple format in which folks try to win big bucks by completing simple tasks inside a chamber designed to induce stress. It’s done good numbers in the UK (thanks to great scheduling) and NBC has a similar-sounding show called “In It to Win It” bowing March 14.

You’ll recall that “The Cube” first caught the eye of Fox executives last fall. They were developing a take on the concept for a few months but then confirmed in December they had opted to move on.

But Objective TV, part of All 3, didn’t give up. It found interest in the concept at CBS; the network’s interest in the project no doubt shot up more when Harris began entertaining the possibility of hosting.

Assuming CBS decides to move forward with “The Cube,” it’ll be the latest hosting gig for the mega-versatile NPH. He’s already done stints fronting the Emmys, the Tonys and the TV Land Awards. And just this week, he won mostly raves for sitting in as a judge on “American Idol.”

The 2010 Oscars will in fact be co-hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, the Academy has announced.

Neil will be featured in the December/January issue of Out magazine, as part of the 2009 Out 100. The magazine will be in stores mid-November.

Neil’s interview on last night’s Conan O’Brien is up on the Conan website here, in three parts.

Various online sources are reporting that Neil is set to host next year’s Oscars after Hugh Jackman turned down the gig. There has been no official statement one way or the other as yet; as recently as last week the word was that Neil was reluctant to take the role, should he be offered it, in an attempt to avoid overexposure.

We’ll keep you updated!

Neil will host “It’s Magic”, part of a week long celebration of the Magic Castle‘s 100th anniversary. “It’s Magic!” will take place on Sunday, November 8th, at 7:00pm at The Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Tickets cost between $25 and $67.50, visit Ticketmaster to purchase.

Neil’s hosting gig at the Emmys saw the ratings rise almost 10%, similar to the ratings high achieved when he hosted the Tonys back in June. And the glowing reviews have continued to roll in over the last 48 hours; they now include NPR, Time Magazine, eonline, TV Guide, and Hugh Jackman.

Charity Folks are running an auction to win the chance to visit the set of HIMYM and meet Josh Radnor, to benefit Young Storytellers. The bidding currently stands at $1,500 and the auction runs for another 7 days. To find out more about Young Storytellers, visit youngstorytellers.com.

And finally, according to Roger Friedman of The Hollywood Reporter, Neil is set to join the cast of David Mamet’s “Race” on Broadway this winter. Rehersals begin on October 19th, previews run from November 17th and the play officially opens on December 6th, but there’s no official confirmation one way or the other yet, and we would suggest taking it with a pinch of salt at the moment as it would obviously seriously interrupt with Neil’s HIMYM commitments.

Glossing over the fact that (if you haven’t heard) Neil was robbed once again and even without Jeremy Piven being nominated, he lost the Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series award to Two and a Half Men’s Jon Cryer, the show has been getting rave reviews. If you watched the ceremony you’ll have seen many of the presenters praising Neil’s handling of the show, Jon Stewart in particular.

And the compliments don’t stop there. There are reviews of the show all over this morning and they’re all incredibly positive about Neil and the way the show was put together. There’s USA Today, Los Angeles Times, the LA Times Awards Insider, Entertainment Weekly, Zap2it, StarTribune, Reuters, the Arizona Republic and The Celebrity Cafe, to name just a few.

There are photos from the arrival and the show in our gallery, with more to come as today progresses, so keep an eye on it! And if you check out our YouTube channel, you can check out the Dr Horrible interruption, and Neil’s awesome opening number.

And don’t forget (as if you could!) that How I Met Your Mother season five premieres tonight on CBS at the new time of 8/7c!

The Chicago Sun-Times have done a pre-Emmy bio of Neil, in gallery form. Ausiello reports that John Hodgman (PC from the PC & Mac adverts, and one of Neil’s co-stars in The Best and the Brightest) has been hired as the announcer for tonight’s ceremony.

And the Dr Horrible Twitter account has revealed a couple more details on the good Doctor’s involvement tonight…

I’ve got it! I’ll use my interceptorizor to highjack the Emmy broadcast! Now if only I can find out when it is… February, right? @drhorrible

And:

Tomorrow? The emmys are tomorrow?! I’m gonna have to pull an all nighter to get this thing humming. Tune in. CBS at 8. See if I pull it off. @drhorrible

The Emmys themselves air tonight on CBS at 8pm ET. E!’s Countdown To The Red Carpet starts at 4, and their Live From The Red Carpet pre-show starts at 6pm. In addition the TVGuide Network will be airing Emmy related programming most of the day, and are live from the red carpet from 6pm.

Once again there are various Neil focus pieces floating around: Time Magazine, the Hollywood Reporter, and Entertainment Weekly’s Popwatch previews the piece in this week’s print issue (which you can see scans of here).

“If I don’t win, it’ll be fantastic,” he says. “I’ve got tons of jokes ready for that. If I do win, I think I have to go do the press gauntlet midshow, and then they’ll cut to me back there saying, ‘Our next two presenters are…’ I thought about calling [Malcolm in the Middle’s] Chris Masterson and seeing if he would sub in for me, as me, while I went to the gauntlet, and not even make a reference to the fact that he’s not me. Just have him keep going. Because I get told I was wonderful on Malcolm in the Middle almost as much as I get told I was wonderful on Doogie Howser.“

His appearance on Ellen yesterday is now on YouTube, you can listen to him chatting on On Air With Ryan Seacrest, and you can also watch another red carpet video from the Pepsi Max CBS Premiere Party here.

And if you have time to kill, AfterElton.com has a Neil Patrick Harris online jigsaw puzzle, and RightCelebrity presents the argument for Neil being The Sexiest Man Alive.

Lots of articles today! First the LA Times has a nice piece with a few more details on how they’re saving time without cutting awards.

“There will be seven presenting teams,” producer Don Mischer tells Gold Derby. “They’ll each do two awards instead of one. That saves us walk-out time and the banter the presenters usually have to do before introducing an award. After presenting one award, the presenting team will jump right into giving out the next one.”

The same piece informs us that Neil will be “appearing on stage more than any other Emmy host ever”, and includes a running order for the awards. Neil’s Supporting Actor category is the third award of the night.

Bing claims to be the place to be for up to the minute Emmy news on the night, NPR have done a spotlight piece (and thanks to the reader who let us know that Neil will be on NPR’s Morning Edition today).

Videos: Neil previews the Emmys for Entertainment Weekly, and ETOnline catch up with the star at Wednesday’s CBS Season Premieres party. Finally, Neil discusses his part in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Kind of.