But when I go to Chicago, I know I'm home.

I decided I would go to Chicago and try my luck as a writer after those eight months as a fireman.

Here is the difference between Dante, Milton, and me. They wrote about hell and never saw the place. I wrote about Chicago after looking the town over for years and years.

I've been proud to be a lifelong Chicago Cub and still be with the Cubs. That's always been important to me and I think it's always been special.

Well, I think one of the reasons Chicago became so popular as a filmmaker location is because New York had been used so many times that Chicago, I think, was rediscovered maybe in the late '60s, early '70s for a long time as a new location.

I did Chicago on Broadway the year before last. That was a great opportunity and I had a blast.

I'm always struck by the kids who turn up in New York and LA, and places in between. Chicago. Wanting to do theater, wanting to do independent film. Wanting to break into television or radio.

Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs.

They planned this fair to bring business to Chicago, into the Loop. But you could have fired a cannon down state street and hit nobody, because everybody was out at the fair.

And then when I went to Chicago, that's when I had these outer space experiences and went to the other planets.

It's wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.

I have a place in Chicago and I get there as much as I can. The city is so unbelievably beautiful. It's one of the greatest cities on the planet. My heart beats differently when I'm in Chicago. It slows down and I feel more at ease.

I want to live and work in Chicago for the rest of my life. You know when you were growing up and you wanted to become president? What I want now is to be mayor of this damned town in ten years.

The show can go on without me, and probably will, but I want to come back to act in Chicago. My wife and I just bought a condo downtown, and I want to do theater.

Theater in Chicago will always be my first love. It started careers for me and about 50 of my friends. We all love coming back. As soon as the TV show is over, I'll be back in Chicago, doing live theater.