-My next guest is currently in his ninth season
of "Chicago Fire," which airs Wednesday nights at 9:00 p.m.
on NBC and is streaming on Peacock right now.
Here is Taylor Kinney!
Taylor!
-Hey!
-It is so nice to see you.
And thank you so much for coming on the show.
I've actually met you before but very briefly.
-This was, I forget the year -- 2016, maybe something like that.
But every year -- I think I've done it four times --
we do a Polar Plunge, which is a charity event
for the Special Olympics in Chicago.
They wait for, you know, in and around the coldest day
of the year and they push some ice and debris
up from Lake Michigan.
You get your swim trunks on, and you jump in.
And it's gotten bigger, the crowds.
But I remember you were there.
Vince Vaughn was there, and I remember you had a suit on.
And you went, like, just all full suit.
And I go, "How's he gonna get out?
That's gotta be, like, triple as cold."
-Look, there it is right there. -There you go.
-I remember seeing you. My hair was frozen. It was spiky.
-Oh, yeah, everything just goes --
-Ice. -Yeah.
And I'm sure your suit is still probably stiff as a board.
-It's thawing out, yeah.
It's halfway from Chicago to New York. Yeah.
But I love that you did that four times.
Good for you.
That's unbelievable.
It's not a surprise to me that you do these things
'cause you're in great shape.
But also you like a good challenge.
I know you and your brothers
have big grilling competitions with each other.
-Yeah. -How did that start?
-I kind of grew up on fish sticks and meat loaf
and leftover fish sticks and leftover chicken.
And so it was always --
I just expected things to taste like that.
And I was working a lot.
I started kind of coming home and grilling on my own,
like, towards the end of high school, beginning of college.
I would go, if I was doing carpentry work or roofing,
I started grilling, and I started with these marinades.
And then, it was like, "Hey, Mom, like,
you actually can make chicken that doesn't crack and dry.
Like, this is delicious. It's kind of good."
And so it was a joke with that, and then we got more into it,
started writing down recipes.
My brothers got in on it.
And then it became a competition of sorts
and it just kind of took off.
-Well, you took it to the next level.
You actually bought a restaurant.
-So, I own -- part-own a restaurant and theater
in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
It's called Zoetropolis and Lancaster Distilleries.
The theater -- It's a small theater.
We do independent film documentaries, live music.
It's not a big venue, maybe 90-person capacity pre-COVID.
It's helping a lot of people
who are in between jobs and in and out of work.
-Please support your local stuff. Yeah.
-If you ever get a chance, like, come and do a little stage --
a little set on the stage there at Zoetropolis.
-If you have an open mike, I can't help myself.
I have to go up and grab onto it.
Zoetropolis?
-Zoetropolis is the theater.
Lancaster Distilleries is the restaurant.
-Alright. Watch me.
I'm going to come. I'm going to come for you.
-[ Laughs ] I love it.
-I want to say congrats on "Chicago Fire."
It's a giant hit.
I mean, this is season 9 now?
-Yes.
-I mean, what is it like when you first get that job
and you go, "Oh, this could be fun.
Let's see if we can do this."
Cut to -- what is it? -- 10 years later now.
You're still -- You're crushing it.
It's still a major hit on NBC.
-It was one of those things -- I had done pilots before.
Either they go -- they don't get picked up.
It's kind of -- You know, it's a crap shoot.
You don't know.
But, you know, with Dick Wolf being a part of this
and "Law and Order," I said,
"Well, this could have some legs."
I think it was one of our producers saying
or a showrunner said,
"Hey, you might want to look into getting a place.
Not buying but just, hey, you're going to --
Get out of the hotel."
And it's been nine years now.
-Wow!
-It's the closest thing as a 9:00 to 5:00 that I think
that I'll experience in this line of work.
-I'm a fan of the show, and I have to ask,
because I used to live by a fire station
when I was first on "Saturday Night Live."
And they are a very honest bunch.
Do you hear from real firefighters who watch
and go like, "We would never do that. What are you doing?"
-For the most part, it was positive responses.
But I think in the first couple episodes, they were like,
"Well, you guys, you got this hose.
You slid down this hose.
How the hell are you gonna get back up?
We don't do that. What is that?"
-"It's a TV show!
It's a television show! We're not really firefighters."
-That's what I said.
I was like, "There's a little creative license."
They're like, "What are you talking about?
No, no."
-Taylor, thanks so much for coming on the show, man.
I'm a big fan.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Taylor Kinney in "Chicago Fire."
Take a look at this.
-You alright?
-Just waiting for some aspirin to kick in.
What's up?
-Do you know anything about the delivery
Stella ordered for the apartment?
-Delivery of what?
-That's the thing. She wouldn't say.
I don't deal well with change.
She knows that.
-Well, it's her home, too.
She probably wants to put her stamp on the place.
-Mm. Probably.
-Hey, uh, you and Kidd, if it's time for me to move on
and you guys need the loft to yourselves, just say the word.
I promise. I'm all good.
-Didn't I just say I don't deal well with change?
-Taylor Kinney.
"Chicago Fire" airs Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. on NBC.
And every season is streaming right now on Peacock.