Jimmy Kimmel Live! from BAM

May 15, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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By Raanan Geberer

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — Barbra Streisand isn’t the only Brooklyn-born celebrity who’s being lured back home by the arrival this fall of the Brooklyn Nets and the opening of Barclays Center.

Mill Basin native Jimmy Kimmel will bring his late-night ABC TV show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” to the Brooklyn Academy of Music from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2. The production is timed to coincide with the start of the Nets’ inaugural season. Barclays Center opens Sept. 28.

Unlike Streisand, who, by all accounts, maintained few ties to Brooklyn once she arrived on Broadway and later in Hollywood, Kimmel never stopped visiting his large extended family here. He pulls no punches when he talks about his admiration for the borough.

“I do go back, and I have even ordered stuff from Mill Basin Deli to my house in L.A.,” Kimmel told the Eagle. “I know there are delis in L.A., but it’s not the same.”

Brooklyn “really is a special place,” he said. “When you travel around and meet people from Brooklyn, there is a special bond. In general, you can tell whether someone is from Brooklyn almost immediately. There’s an almost unspoken understanding when you meet someone from Brooklyn.”

“I’m from 64th Street near Avenue T and went to P.S. 236,” Kimmel recalled. “When I was 9 I moved to Las Vegas.

“My Uncle Frank, who was a cop in Brooklyn for many years, moved [to Vegas] when he retired; when my grandparents retired, they moved there, and we moved there to be near them.”

No matter what people think of when they hear “Las Vegas,” Kimmel’s family had nothing to do with show biz — his father’s in the computer business.

Mill Basin “was like most areas of Brooklyn,” Kimmel said. “It was a place where you could go and run around all day and never report back to your house, and your parents would know you were fine. It was a fun place to grow up.

“I brought my kids back to Brooklyn [in this case, Marine Park] when I visited my aunt and uncle recently, and they had a great time running around for 12 hours with other kids. That just doesn’t happen in L.A.”

This will be the Kimmel show’s first road trip since it went to Detroit in 2006.

“We’ve wanted to do the show from Brooklyn for a long time,” he said, “and it seemed like the coming of the Nets is a good time to do it.”

“It’s great that Brooklyn will have a major sports team,” he continued. “I’m sure there are things about it that are inconvenient, but when they start winning, provided that they do, it will be great for the borough.

“I think their merchandise will be the most popular in all of sports. I think people love wearing the word ‘Brooklyn’ on their chest.”

Kimmel’s goal had been to produce the show at BAM, and luckily, the venue was able to accommodate him. “We will probably tape around 7 p.m., and there will be no tickets — it will be first come, first served.”

Kimmel said he plans to book people who have a connection with Brooklyn.

He announced his week of shows at BAM when he visited the “Live! with Kelly” show yesterday.