I wanted to be a hockey player. Where I grew up, the basketball courts were rarely used. I was terrible in school and actually said, 'I'm going to be a hockey player.'

The best thing about series TV is that everyone you work with is hand-picked, as compared to working on a film.

My cousin Jerry Lucey and five other firefighters died in a warehouse fire in Worcester, Mass. - my hometown - right in the middle of our old neighborhood downtown when a homeless couple started a fire to keep warm and the entire building went up. My cousin died trying to save homeless people who had already left the building.

In addition to my cousin, there were 30 or 40 guys I grew up with who became firefighters as well. So, I've been around firefighters all my life.

If you do good work, it tends to stick around. People still come up to me and say, "'The Ref' is my favorite Christmas movie."

How many whales do we really need? I figure five. One for each ocean.

I didn't raise my kids with the fear of God.