Neil Patrick Harris Used James Corden to Get Out of Jury Duty

So maybe stars aren’t always like us! Neil Patrick Harris had a very Hollywood excuse for getting out of his recent jury duty, saying he had to attend The Late Late Show With James Corden. When that didn’t work, the 46-year-old claimed he was related to the TV host.

“I tried to get out of it,” Harris told Corden, 40, on the late-night talk show on Thursday, January 24. “I assumed that when you get the thing that says you have to go, that they send that to everybody like spam and that they just hope that people end up going. So I didn’t go, and I was actually working on A Series of Unfortunate Events in Canada, so I had an actual excuse, and finally, they sent me an actual summons. I will go to jail unless I do this.”

The How I Met Your Mother alum continued: “So I went, and I served my jury duty, and I met with some lawyers, and there was a case about asbestos, and they had to question everyone. And I had to raise my hand [and] talk to them one-on-one and say I couldn’t go because this very week I was flying to Los Angeles to be on [The Late Late Show] and therefore I wouldn’t be available for the second half of the week.”

A lawyer told the actor he couldn’t use professional opportunities to get out of jury duty, only family situations. “And he said, ‘Do you have any family that’s going to be in Los Angeles while you’re there?’” Harris recalled. “And I said, ‘Yes, James Corden is my second cousin.’ And he said, ‘Great, you’re free to go.’”

Chelsea Peretti, Corden’s other guest on Thursday’s episode, had a better jury duty excuse — at first, anyway. “I had put it off for breastfeeding,” the Brooklyn Nine-Nine actress revealed.

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“Hmm. I tried that,” Harris interjected. “I tried that and it didn’t work.”

Peretti, 40, continued: “So I pushed it, and I pushed it, and at a certain point, they were like, ‘Surely, you’re done.’”

The Late Late Show With James Corden airs on CBS weeknights at 12:37 a.m. ET.

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