Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris is hoping his first Academy Awards is nothing like his debut as the Tonys frontman when he had to deal with a serious injury to rocker BRET MICHAELS.

The Poison star was knocked out by a piece of a falling stage set at the end of the opening number while Harris was backstage preparing for his big entrance in 2009, and the host admits the drama left him unsettled as he started the show.

Harris says, "I was super, super convinced that he was really, really hurt... I screamed backstage... It was bad. I thought his skull had been crushed or something.

"My biggest fear was if something really bad had happened... we're at the beginning of a three-hour show about Broadway musicals and plays, so do you just mop up the floor and keep going or do you have to stop and say... 'Something terrible has gone wrong and we'll do the Tonys another night'."