Neil Patrick Harris was awesome as Doogie Howser way back in the early ’90s. But the 40-year-old’s career truly skyrocketed in 2004 when he took on a special appearence as a fake version of himself in the sleeper hit Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Soon after, he landed his current gig as hilarious womaniser Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother — a role for which he’s been Emmy-nominated multiple times. While Barney’s mischief continues on the small screen, Neil is back in theatres this week with The Smurfs 2. In a web chat from Cancun in Mexico, the actor talks about how Smurfs has made him ‘a cool dad’, saying goodbye to Barney and life since Doogie Howser MD.

Did you watch Smurfs when you were younger?

I watched the cartoon a little bit. I wasn’t a die-hard fan that collected the little figurines and the books. Now that I’ve been part of the movies, I’ve acquired a lot more of that stuff.

Who is your favorite Smurf?

I like Jokey. He’d always just run up with a box and say, ‘Here, open a present’, and then it would explode and everyone would laugh.

Through most of the Smurfs movies, you act with a tennis ball. Have you got used to CGI?

One of the things I liked the most about the first Smurfs movie was the technology behind it. The Smurfs looked so fantastic in the end product. You’ll be amazed when you see the visual and how amazing the detail of Smurfette’s (voiced by Katy Perry in The Smurfs 2) hair is. It is easiest now because of the first film. Also, we don’t use tennis balls... we’re actually looking at nothing. Sometimes you are talking to a piece of wire with a dot on the end and you use your imagination to figure out what the Smurf will do next. It was harder in the first movie because we weren’t sure of what the scene would end up looking like.

You are a dad now, Neil. Do Harper and Gideon think you are the coolest dad ever for having done these films?

They just watched The Smurfs yesterday morning here (in Cancun, Mexico) at the press junket because the movie was on the TV. They couldn’t believe that Papa was actually hanging out with the Smurfs. So now they see Smurfs all over the place and they expect me to be in every movie. But yeah, they’re great, it’s fun. It allows the opportunity to make family fare, to make movies like this that make some sense for me. So yeah, I hope my kids think I’m awesome.

You dance, sing and also do magic. But in The Smurfs, your character is fairly straight-laced.

Patrick has been on a journey in the first movie about whether he’s going to be a good father or not. In the second movie, they have their son, Blue, and so he’s now having to come to terms with his own parental upbringing and his stepfather and what that means to him. I think Patrick is a counterpoint to Gargamel’s (the evil wizard and a sworn enemy of the Smurfs) hilarity.

You have worked with Katy Perry in How I Met Your Mother. Is it a bit surreal to see Katy as Smurfette now?

Well, in the Smurfs movies, we don’t ever get to see the people who play the voice actors. That all happens for like a year’s duration. Moreover, we party more than we actually work together. When she was on How I Met Your Mother, she claimed to be nervous and she killed it. She was super-funny, and unusual to many guest stars... she knew her lines and was well prepared. So, I suspect she’ll make as many movies as she wants.

How I Met Your Mother is going to end soon. Are you ready to say goodbye to Barney, another character you made iconic?

I am. We thought for a while that the show was going to end at the eighth season, which is the one we just completed, and we were all okay with that. But I think there was a little bit more of the story to tell. We decided that if we had a ninth season, we would have been able to end it on a really nice note. I think the structure of season nine is going to be unique. People who have stuck with us this far will enjoy the end of that show. But you also don’t want to stay there forever and gild the lily, and by gild, I mean have sex with, ’cause Lily’s a character on the show (laughs). And so, yeah, it’s always fun and exciting to ponder the future and imagine what’s going to happen. And nine years is a long run for any show. But Barney’s a cool guy. So I had a blast doing him.

It’s been 20 years since Doogie Howser. How do you look at the journey from Doogie Howser to The Smurfs 2?

Oh man! It feels like 15 lifetimes ago. Doogie Howser was a great chapter in my life. I feel so lucky that I was able to be in such a professional environment at such a young age. I was 15-16 when it started. When I graduated from that chapter, I felt like I had a unique skill set. But since then, there have been so many random other chapters, going to New York and doing theatre. And, another show called Stark Raving Mad and then How I Met Your Mother, Starship Troopers and Dr Horrible. Plus, I have children now, so though I can remember very specific details from all of that chapter, it feels like 15 lifetimes ago.

Have you heard of Bollywood?

Very much so. I love Bollywood. In fact, I joined forces with the Jim Henson Company, Brian Henson and the puppets, and I did a series called Neil’s Puppet Dreams and they’re seven shorts that you can see on the Internet. And one of them is called Bollywood, and we do a Bollywood number where I have a lovely relationship with a cow puppet. We sang a song and we did a whole dance.