Jimmy Kimmel back home in Brooklyn this week

BROOKLYN (WABC) -- Don't tell the boss, but Jimmy Kimmel is one of the few stars who is so much fun to be around time spent with him doesn't really feel like work. I was reminded of this when I took a stroll around his set at the Brooklyn Academy of Music where he is appearing this week.

Less than half a dozen miles separate Jimmy Kimmel's childhood home from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the man who left here as a boy of nine is making the most of his return to his native city.

What for others must remain a fantasy, Kimmel has made happen for himself and for his show.

"We have Bill Murray the first night. We have Jay Z the second night. We've got Bradley Cooper, Michael J. Fox, Howard Stern. We've got a great line-up," he said.

Click here to see this week's complete line-up on Jimmy Kimmel Live

His visit to the city is not limited to one borough either.

"I went to the Bronx Zoo with Tracy Morgan," Jimmy said.

This is not the first time this native son has come home.

"Tonight I have returned to save my people from the storm," he told the audience in 2012, when he appeared in Brooklyn after Superstorm Sandy.

He told me that appearance had a special resonance for him.

"It did because you're always more affected by something that affects your friends and family," he said.

Jimmy told me he has hundreds of friends and family members like his uncle Tony and Aunt Joanne coming to watch him work this week.

"One thing I'm particularly excited about is my class from Mill Basin. A lot of them are coming to the show and we're going to recreate our class photo," he said.

Makes sense for a guy sentimental enough to keep a photo of his childhood home at his l.a. Beach house.

I just like looking at it because it makes me remember living in Brooklyn, which is I think the greatest place to grow-up," Jimmy said.

Jimmy told me he'd tape in Brooklyn half of the year if he could get away with it, but it's expensive and he brings more than 100 people with him from L.A. His crew was especially helpful to us on location at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.