Neil Patrick Harris has a new memoir titled Choose Your Own Autobiography hitting the shelves soon. As the title implies, it will be a kind of Choose Your Own Adventure-style twist on your standard Hollywood memoir, with the Doogie Howser and How I Met Your Mother star taking readers through his life as though they were living it. Topics covered include: his early fame, his struggle to find himself after said early fame disappeared, and the process he went through to figure out and accept that he was gay. This last part is where we pick up our story.
NPH reveals how he experimented with psychedelic drugs to try and expand his mind – and jokes how a kiss on the mouth from Burt Reynolds during filming on B.L. Stryker may have sealed the deal that he was gay. […]
It was while appearing on B.L. Stryker that show star Burt Reynolds kissed him. NPH writes: ‘As a joke at the end of one take, Burt leans over and kisses you square on the mouth. The crew thinks this is very funny, but it makes you uncomfortable. Uncomfortable and, it will ultimately turn out, gay. Burt Reynolds’ kiss makes you gay.’ [Daily Mail]
I certainly don’t want to imply that a kiss from Burt Reynolds could turn a straight person gay because that would be a gross mischaracterization that trivializes the idea of sexuality, but if you’re someone who’s already on the road to figuring that out about yourself, I mean, I imagine this’ll do it. I wonder how many other men confirmed that they were gay after a joke kiss from Burt Reynolds. Dozens, probably.
Anyway, as luck would have it, because we live in magical times, the entire episode of B.L. Stryker in question is on YouTube. Scoot ahead to the 20 minute mark to see a tiny NPH ranting at classmates and teachers about fornication and Burt Reynolds kneeing the principal in the groin while wearing a Florida State jacket. B.L. Stryker was apparently the greatest show in the history of television.
