Just three days to go before The Oscars, and Neil Patrick Harris has been spending Thursday talking about what kind of host he’ll be and what kind of jokes he’ll be cracking. In separate telephone interviews with USA Today and BuzzFeed, he indicated that he’ll be much gentler than some previous hosts. *Cough* Seth McFarlane *ahem*.

“I skew kinder. I want to keep it a classy show,” said Harris to USA Today. “It's a night of celebration. All of these people worked so hard all year long, all career long to attend this night. To make jokes at them, that's just not my style.”

Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is hosting the Oscars on Sunday

He told BuzzFeed “I’m happiest when I’m hosting the party and explaining the game and making sure that everyone’s feeling comfortable in their surroundings. That was always something I looked up to when I saw Billy Crystal do it, or Johnny Carson.”

The multi-talented 41 year old will be hosting his first Oscars ceremony, though he does have previous experience in this area, having fronted the Tony Awards four times and the Emmys twice. He’ll be singing a specially composed musical number, written by the evil geniuses responsible for Frozen’s ‘Let It Go’.

More: ‘Frozen’ songwriters to pen Oscars number for Neil Patrick Harris

As for the jokes – we can be pretty sure that everything significant that has happened in Hollywood over the last couple of weeks has been tested for comedy material. We can be pretty sure that something about Fifty Shades of Grey will be in there. However, Harris is still hoping for a scandal to break and give him a rich source of material.

"I need a scandal," he joked with USA Today. "I wouldn't mind if someone was caught with a prostitute. Or maybe something with someone unexpected… Can you just print something even if it’s totally not true, so that I can reference it?”

On the night itself, he’ll be concentrating on quiet contemplation and deep breathing to compose himself before the show. But what if it all goes wrong? What’s his back-up plan? “There's a streaker on standby. And his name is NPH,” Harris replied nonchalantly. “If things go bad, I can only go out big. If you know what I mean… …that's a euphemism.”

More: Host Neil Patrick Harris promises the Oscars will “be f***ing hilarious”