Neil Patrick Harris, you almost had us fooled.

A rumor hit the Internet earlier this week that "How I Met Your Mother's" Neil Patrick Harris and former "SNL" alum Martin Short would be doing a musical number to open the Oscars. NPH jumped on Twitter and denied the report, tweeting:

I will not be performing a duet with Martin Short to open the Oscars. Misinformation, I'm afraid. Should I maybe pull a Kanye, mid-show?

But it turns out the report was only half wrong. NPH was, in fact, the first to grace the Oscars stage, doing a song and dance routine celebrating the notion of dual Oscar hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

"No one wants to do it alone" was the chorus, and NPH made sure throw out references to notables in the audience:

"You can't take Julia Child from her pie" (cut to Meryl Streep smiling) "...or take James Cameron from his CGI" (cut to James Cameron - not smiling).

It wouldn't be an awards show at this point without NPH (he got rave reviews for his hosting gigs at both the Tonys and the Emmys). He got the Oscar crowd nice and warmed up for Martin and Baldwin, who descended in a contraption from the ceiling and ran hand-in-hand to the front of the stage to do their opening monologue.



Follow Zap2it on Twitter and Facebook and Zap2itChristine on Twitter for the latest movies, TV and celebrity news.


Related:

Oscars 2010: Join Zap2it's live chat
Oscars 2010: 'And the winner is ...' returns
Oscars 2010: Experts expect an 'Avatar,' 'Hurt Locker' showdown

Photo credit: Getty Images