But do we really care if the actor formerly known as Doogie Howser is gay?

Here’s the setting, months ago: Neil Patrick Harris stands in a Los Angeles bar during a promotion for his sitcom "How I Met Your Mother." Chatting out of earshot, some critics say things like, "He’s gay, right?" But none (so far as I know) ask him about it, partly out of deference, maybe mostly because we don’t care. But there is this one standard question: Is there anything he’d like to confess to?

Harris answers after he looks to his right and spies a co-star, who has dyed her red hair brown.

"Alyson Hannigan — very hot. Smokin’ as a brunette," he says.

End of confession. Months would pass. Then PerezHilton.com would begin speculating about Harris, a situation that ended with last week’s statement from the former star of "Doogie Howser, M.D." that he is, in fact, a happy gay man.

The hubbub seems anachronistic. Is the gayness of a theater, movie and TV actor still this worthy of being a top national story? What are we? Pilgrims?

Harris’ news does show that many Americans don’t truly know celebrities, despite Star magazine and "Access Hollywood." Lots of people didn’t know Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres were gay until they announced it.

But entertainment journalists know more, or think they do, and were surprised that Americans were surprised about Rosie and Ellen; and now Neil. A friend who writes in Canada, Eve Thomas, sent me this e-mail this week:

"Neil Patrick Harris is gay? Next thing you know, Matthew McConaughey will come out as a bongo-playing [rumor redacted], with ripped abs and a spirit that can’t be tamed.

"I thought [Harris] was pretty open about it. Wasn’t that what made ’Harold and Kumar [Go to White Castle]’ extra funny? I love the outtake where he complains that the wind machine is blowing all his fake coke off of the naked stripper."

If we remain focused on Harris’ personality, there is a different story that is less sexy. Harris is wealthy with playful charm in interviews and, co-stars say, on the set of "How I Met Your Mother."

Castmate Jason Segel calls Harris, 33, "a real wild card" behind the scenes.

"You don’t know what’s gonna happen with that dude," Segel says in the bar that day. "When you’re acting, when you’re hanging out, when you’re doing an interview, you don’t know what’s gonna happen. I like that vibe. He’s a funny dude, a really talented guy."

So, back to that bar, months ago: Harris fields a collection of light and oddball questions about himself and his portrayal of ladies’ man Barney on "How I Met Your Mother."

Like this: How does he stay fit? Circuit training.

"I tried the no-carb diet. I don’t recommend it. It is not dissimilar to mononucleosis. I found myself just sitting, depressed, no reason to be depressed, and upset that I was upset. I couldn’t really function much," he says. "So I’m on the old eat-a-lot-and-liposuction-it-later diet."

He also says he swings on a trapeze a few times a week, and juggles. And he really got into the reality series "America’s Got Talent." ("How does a girl learn to shoot an arrow with her toes?")

Harris beat long odds by surviving after his child stardom from long-ago’s "Doogie Howser," which is good since sales of DVDs didn’t dump a truck of money on his lap.

"I get zero dollars of that. Zero. I had to negotiate a fee for my interview [in the DVD]. That was my compensation," he says.

"There weren’t DVDs back then, so they weren’t able to really negotiate anything in the future. You really can’t get the future-tech clause in your contract: ’Any type of telepathy shows, I get paid 10 cents per show.’ "

He’s hoping to play himself again in "Harold & Kumar Go to Amsterdam," a planned sequel to the 2004 cult classic.

"I think that would be great fun, and I hope I get to go there. And I hope they don’t call Amsterdam ’Vancouver,’ " he says. (A lot of movies claim to be set in one city while actually filming in Vancouver.)

He’s getting a kick out of his woman-hungry character, Barney, mostly for trying to invent catchphrases.

"One of the things I love about Barney is that when the catchphrases don’t stick, he kind of enjoys it more. You know, when everyone’s like, ’No dude, don’t say "legendary." It’s just not funny anymore,’ and he just says it more."

"Mother" could last for years. Harris hopes its legacy will be as a relevant series and not just a hanger-on.

"There’s a high percentage of sitcoms that just sort of keep going. There are a lot of ’According to Jims’ and ’Just Shoot Mes’ and stuff like that that just kind of go on," he says. " ’Just Shoot Me’ was funny, but it never got that uber-level of ’Friends’ and ’[Everybody Loves] Raymond.’ "

Harris says he’s already planning for "Mother" longevity by wearing a Hitchcock-inspired wardrobe of timeless suits.

"They initially wanted the vest and the suit and the shirt. That seemed so 2001," Harris says of "Mother"-makers. "If we go into syndication, and this show airs 15 years from now, I don’t want a Cosby sweater."