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Chicago (city)

city · in 65 videos (2007–2026)

City John moved to in 2000, where he worked at Booklist and wrote the first draft of Looking for Alaska in a small apartment.

Includes: Grant Park, Millennium Park, Lincoln Park, Chicago

Videos by year: 2007: 6 · 2008: 12 · 2009: 5 · 2010: 11 · 2011: 2 · 2012: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2026: 2

Threads

Also named in the threads: Daniel Biss runs for Illinois state representative (2007) · John and Sarah move to Indianapolis (2007) · Brotherhood 2.0 scavenger hunt (2007) · John asks Nerdfighters to find the nearest tour stop and come, bringing friends (2008) · Paper Towns Tour (2008) · John invites viewers to take part in Amy Krouse Rosenthal's 10/10/10 event at the Bean in Chicago (2010) · John: how Looking for Alaska was written, revised and won the Printz Award (2006) · The Fault in Our Stars: writing, title and publication (2011) · John asks Nerdfighters whether he should read the audiobook of The Fault in Our Stars (2011) · SciShow: launch of Hank's science channel (2011) · Hank in SciShow ads for YouTube's channel promotion (2014) · Tour Because Awesome 2015 edition: Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers' East Coast tour · John's big break: Amy Krouse Rosenthal gets him recording essays for WBEZ (2002) · Turtles All the Way Down tour: John and Hank's US book tour (2017) · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing book tour (2018) · John and Sarah's two-person book club before they started dating · Hollywood, Ending book tour (2026)

Same name, different thing

Chicago (rock band) · Chicago (poem)

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

The Beckoning of Lovely (7) · New York City (19) · Indianapolis (19) · Los Angeles (10) · Looking for Alaska (novel) (12) · Will Grayson, Will Grayson (4) · Sarah Urist Green (11) · Rosianna Halse Rojas (4) · doobly-doo (5) · DFTBA (3)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2007

2008

  • 2008-02-08 · QUESTION TUESDAYS (On Friday) — announcement: John says he will perform that night (21 and over) at the Hideout in Chicago with his friend Mark Bazer (name as heard). — 00:00:00
  • 2008-07-30 · Audiobooks and 8 8 08 — announcement: John announces that at 2 p.m. on August 8, 2008 he will be at the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago, talking, signing books and giving things away. — 00:00:25
  • 2008-08-04 (said on 2008-08-01, implied) · Breakdancing in Missoula Montana — ask: Hank: Worried the Chicago library where they will speak lacks space, Hank asks people to pre-register via the sidebar, though he doesn't know if it guarantees anything. (hedged) — 00:02:36
    • Hank will play in a Wizard Rock show around 10 p.m. on August 8 at a Chicago club (heard as 'Reggie's Room'); tickets are linked in the sidebar. — 00:02:36
  • 2008-08-05 · Everyone's Your Friend… — announcement: Hank says this is the only New York video, since they are going to Chicago next, and he will see John in about three days. — 00:02:14
  • 2008-08-06 · Question Tuesday Returns (on a Wednesday) — announcement: John: Asked about the 8/8/08 Nerdfighter event in Chicago, John says the Harold Washington Library will try to accommodate everyone for the 2 p.m. event, and there will be awesome for those who cannot get in. — 00:00:00
  • 2008-08-12 · Eight Days of Awesome — Hank and John gave a talk at Google's Chicago headquarters about YouTube, online video and online communities. — 00:02:13
    • Hank says over 380 Nerdfighters came to the Chicago library event, including many prominent Nerdfighters he had never seen outside YouTube. — 00:02:42
  • 2008-08-21 · INTERNET SENSATION B$%CH — Susan Carlson (quoted): The report says John was already a successful teen author whose fame skyrocketed through the internet, and that he was back in Chicago, where he once lived, promoting his books at the library. — 00:02:08
  • 2008-09-04 · Paper Towns Tour Dates! — announcement: John announces the Paper Towns tour stops from October 17 to 30: Boston, Indianapolis, Columbus, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Chicago suburbs and city, Phoenix, Seattle, San Francisco, and a Nerdfighter Halloween party in Los Angeles. — 00:01:43
  • 2008-09-11 · A Video about Videos — John recalls that at the end of the Chicago Nerdfighter night on 8/8/08 hundreds of Nerdfighters met Amy Krouse Rosenthal at the Bean without knowing her plan. — 00:01:34
  • 2008-10-24 · IRON MAN BLOGTV CHALLENGE! — announcement: Hank says John's video will be online tonight and that John will be in Chicago tonight. — 00:01:17
  • …and 4 statements more in 2008 — all statements of 2008

Also named in: Paper Towns and Touring Question Tuesday

2009

  • 2009-02-01 · Super Bowl Analysis from an Idiot — announcement: John tells over-21 Nerdfighters near Chicago he will be part of Mark Bazer's live talk show at the Hideout on Friday, February 6 at 6:30; it costs five dollars. — 00:00:00
  • 2009-06-14 · Iran Election Fraud: 5 Reasons to Doubt the Results — John: Reason one: Tabriz, Mousavi's home city, historically votes for him or his ethnic group's candidate, yet apparently voted 2 to 1 for Ahmadinejad - like John McCain winning Chicago. (hedged) — 00:01:48
  • 2009-07-14 · Sell Outs! — announcement: John: In a P.S., John announces he is doing a Nerdfighter gathering in Chicago next Thursday (16 July 2009), with more info in the sidebar. — 00:03:36
  • 2009-07-19 · Harry Potter Nerds Win at Life — announcement: John announces he will be in Chicago this Thursday (23 July 2009) at 11 a.m. for a free Nerdfighter gathering at the Harold Washington Library, details in the sidebar. — 00:00:00
  • 2009-10-06 · Victoria Beckham In Your Pants — announcement: John says he will make two appearances in the next week; Chicago-area Nerdfighters can see him in La Grange on October 13. — 00:01:01
    • John hopes to see many Nerdfighters in Chicago and Indianapolis, promising presents and lots of hilarity. (hedged) — 00:02:29

2010

  • 2010-01-20 · OMG MY BROTHER HAD A BABY — Hank: Ten years later Sarah's sparring partner at a Chicago boxing club turned out to be John's ex-girlfriend, also from Alabama, which reconnected John and Sarah. (playful) — 00:00:41
  • 2010-03-10 · New Tour! New Book! (Remember Books?) Your Q's A'ed! — announcement: John will be in Indianapolis on March 15 talking about vlogging, then on tour in April in Chicago, Boulder, Austin, New York City, Madison (Connecticut), LA and San Francisco. — 00:00:29
  • 2010-04-07 · Shmancy Hotel Room Is Shmancy — John is in a schmancy Chicago hotel room with David Levithan, on tour for their book Will Grayson, Will Grayson. — 00:00:04
  • 2010-09-15 · Positive Pranking: The TP Edition — John says Amy launched the positive pranking campaign by reinventing ding-dong ditching, delivering actual Hostess Ding Dongs to strangers throughout Chicago; the video is linked in the description. — 00:00:29
  • 2010-10-04 · The Terrible Burden of Destiny: Chicago and Waupaca — John says Chicago has always been his favorite American city, a city of so many neighborhoods that you can never discover them all. — 00:00:19
    • John quotes Carl Sandburg describing Chicago as laughing 'under the terrible burden of destiny', the phrase that titles the video. — 00:00:20
    • At the festival party John meets 'noted positive pranker' Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who is organizing an event at the Bean in Chicago, 'a kind of sequel to 8-8-08'; John will play a very minor role. — 00:01:56
  • 2010-10-08 · GEEKING OUT Over Dying Declarations — announcement: John says today's video was going to be about a Nerdfighter gathering on Sunday at 5 p.m. in Chicago before the Beckoning of Lovely, with more info on screen. — 00:00:00
  • 2010-10-13 · On Hope and Chile — John does his happy dance in his basement because he was too socially awkward to do it in front of hundreds of Nerdfighters at the Bean in Chicago, and shows theirs. (playful) — 00:00:47
  • 2010-10-27 · You Are Awesome — John says the surgery cost less than expected, so James at War and his wife drove from Texas to Chicago with a check for the difference, which John pocketed unopened and later found was $540. (playful) — 00:01:41
  • 2010-12-13 · 8 Things I Love — recommendation: John recommends his friend Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Beckoning of Lovely project and a link to what happened on 10/10/10 in Chicago, which might make you cry. — 00:00:59
  • …and 2 statements more in 2010 — all statements of 2010

Also named in: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

2011

  • 2011-10-24 · Signing Psychosis Takes Over — announcement: John will also be at the final Beckoning of Lovely event at the Bean in Chicago on November 11 (description: 11:11 AM on 11/11/11). — 00:02:55
  • 2011-11-21 · Old Man Narrates Young Girl — John is in Chicago at a very crowded English teachers' conference, enjoying talking about books with teachers and signing his name again. — 00:00:05
    • Before Chicago, John was at Brilliance Audio, his audiobook publisher, narrating The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:00:35
  • …and 1 statement more in 2011 — all statements of 2011

2012

2013

  • 2013-10-04 · Q&A with Ansel Elgort and Mike Birbiglia from The Fault in Our Stars Movie Set — Ansel Elgort: Ansel says that while shooting Divergent in Chicago, Shailene gave him a package not to open; days later Josh Boone told him to open it: a rotten Dutch cheese and tomato sandwich meant he got the part. — 00:01:25
  • 2013-10-29 · Perspective — John: At 24, John's longtime girlfriend had just broken up with him; he lived in Chicago in what had been their apartment with what had been their cat, and was pretty depressed. — 00:00:28
    • John's dad drove up to Chicago and they drove back to Orlando; John got into daily therapy, started a much better medication for him, and watched Harvey. — 00:01:51

2014

  • 2014-10-17 · MY FACE ON A BUS — announcement: Hank reveals he was in LA for YouTube's channel promotion: he, Michael Aranda and Caitlin Hofmeister were shot for SciShow print and TV ads now in Chicago, LA, New York and on TV. — 00:00:58

2015

2016

  • 2016-05-10 · On Pain — John says he has been to the dentist more than 150 times in the 13 years since (2003) a bike messenger's shoulder ran into his face as he stood on a Chicago curb reading a novel. — 00:00:11
  • 2016-07-05 · The Horizon Line — John sailed from a birthplace he never knew to Orlando, Birmingham, Chicago and New York, and ended up back where he started. — 00:01:45
  • 2016-08-02 · Beckoning Lovely — ask: John: Amy is hosting another gathering at the Bean on 8/9/16; John urges viewers near Chicago to stop by and points to her video and the doobly-doo. — 00:02:18
    • John hopes viewers outside Chicago too will join him in reading Textbook, with links in the doobly-doo. (hedged) — 00:02:34
  • 2016-08-09 · Why I Didn't Vote (And Six Reasons You Might Not) — John: In August 2000 John had just moved to Chicago, slept in a walk-in closet of an apartment not in his name, had a Florida license, didn't know how to register, and missed the deadline. — 00:02:41

2017

2018

  • 2018-02-20 · When Your Friend Runs for Governor — John recalls meeting mathematician Daniel Biss through a mutual friend at a Chicago bar about 15 years ago (around 2003), and being surprised how much he enjoyed talking to him. — 00:00:00
    • John calls Daniel the smartest person he has known: at 25 he had an MIT math PhD and taught at the University of Chicago, yet always treated John as an intellectual equal. — 00:00:33
    • John says they stayed close through big changes: John met Sarah, moved to New York then Indianapolis and became a dad; Daniel married a historian, moved to the Chicago suburbs and had two kids. — 00:00:48
    • John says Daniel once called with the worst idea he had ever heard: leaving his good University of Chicago job to run for the Illinois State House. (playful) — 00:01:01
  • 2018-04-17 · John Green Answers Your John Green Questions — John lives in Indianapolis, where TFIOS and Turtles All the Way Down are set; earlier he lived in Chicago (part of An Abundance of Katherines), Birmingham, Alabama (Looking for Alaska) and Orlando, Florida (Paper Towns). — 00:00:35
  • 2018-07-24 · Other John Greens — announcement: John says he will join Hank on tour in New York, Boston, North Canton (Ohio), Kansas City, Chicago and Indianapolis, and is excited for it. — 00:03:22
  • 2018-09-14 · Our Rivalry — announcement: Hank: The book tour starts September 25th in New York, then Boston, Canton, Chicago, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Cruz and Bellingham. — 00:03:34
  • 2018-10-31 · The Looking for Alaska Thing — John recalls that Looking for Alaska was published in March 2005, when he was 28 and living in Chicago. — 00:00:15

2019

2020

2021

  • 2021-05-25 · The Anthropocene Reviewed, Animated — John moved to Chicago, typed for temp agencies, then did data entry at Booklist; an editor asked if he liked romance novels, he said he loved them, and got his first review: a novel set in 17th-century London. — 00:03:49
    • John left Booklist and Chicago in 2005 when Sarah got into graduate school in New York; afterwards they moved to Indianapolis, where Sarah was contemporary art curator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. — 00:07:31

2024

2026

  • 2026-07-14 · On the Road Again — John: At his first signing, in Chicago in 2005 for Looking for Alaska, two people came, one his boss pretending to be a stranger; John then read a passage that managed to offend them both. (playful) — 00:00:29
    • The tour continues to Chicago, St. Paul, Kansas City and Tulsa, a city John has never visited. — 00:02:38
  • …and 1 statement more in 2026 — all statements of 2026