Chicago Fire’s Eamonn Walker said the constant laughter on set kept the show from feeling heavy

To say that the heroic “Chicago Fire” first responders have to endure some heavy stuff on the show is a serious understatement. They bravely burned buildings, collapsed buildings, and buildings that were about to explode. And let’s not forget the buildings filled with badly burned people and other injured or sick victims who had to be dragged down ladders or into hovering helicopters. You get the idea. Lots of heavy stuff to go around.

However, the truth is that for some actors, the heaviest scenes in the hit series “One Chicago” are actually their definition of fun. For example, Taylor Kinney, who plays Kelly Severide, cites an extremely risky stunt in the Season 6 episode “Law of the Jungle” as an all-time favorite from the series. Moment finds him with Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer) on top of a building, where they are forced to flee an impending explosion by jumping into the Chicago River. As Kinney explained on NBC Insider, “They both jumped [and] a huge fireball exploded. It’s one of the best memories I’ve had in the last 10 years.”

So while the adrenaline rush seemed to help relieve the pressure of work for Severide, the other actors had other ways to lighten the mood. For example, Eamonn Walker says when faced with the challenges of heavy content, laughter is the best medicine.

Eamonn Walker and his Chicago Fire co-stars have fun on set

The actors of “Chicago Fire” face a series of traumatic events in the film. And although the crises are fictional, the intensity of the scenes can be very real. Speaking to NBC 10 Philadelphia (via YouTube), “Chicago Fire” star Eamonn Walker said that in between filming the show’s more intense scenes, the cast was able to relax by laughing together . “When we cut, we laugh a lot,” Walker said, adding, “We laugh more than most people.”

Walker also said that when dealing with scenes involving some of the gruesome special effects that plague many of the film’s victims, the lightness beforehand helped ease the emotions. “[When the makeup artist] worked for the last 14 hours… put pieces of flesh on [the victim] then he drew him and… you get a broken femur here or the eye socket falls out here and you say, ‘oh I have to pretend it doesn’t upset my spirit.’”

Apparently, even though the series’ subject matter is heavy, the actors keep it light and comfortable on set.