Uninvited Pigeon invades Mo Willems’ TV special

LOS ANGELES >> Mo Willems is very serious about the importance of being silly.

That’s apparent to the children and adults tickled by “There Is a Bird on Your Head!” or “We Are in a Book!” or any of the author and illustrator’s other much-loved works.

But the former “Sesame Street” writer is after more than giggles with his new HBO Max special out Thursday, “Mo Willems and The Storytime All-Stars Present: Don’t Let The Pigeon

Do Storytime!”

Willems’ intent is to perform what he calls a “shame-ectomy” on adults, freeing them to embrace creative hijinks and inspire the children in their lives to do likewise.

The special includes the frustrated bird introduced in “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!”, along with a truly game troupe of celebrities who give themselves over to sketches reflecting Willems’ brand of boisterous storytelling with a kid-safe edge.

The children lucky enough to attend last summer’s Kennedy Center taping clearly had a blast, their beaming faces captured in close-ups as Willems puts Anthony Anderson, Yvette Nicole Brown and Tony Hale, among others, through their paces, aided by on-screen graphics and sound effects maestro Fred Newman (“Prairie Home Companion”).

A pint-sized TV viewer, however, might find the shenanigans less involving at a distance — and besides, what’s with Bobcat Goldthwait as the director of a children’s show?

Willems quickly and politely corrects the questioner. “This special is not a kid’s special. It’s not made for kids, it’s made for the parents and the grandparents, aunts and uncles, trying to give them a shame-ectomy,” he said. “The kids are cool. Kids can jump up and down and yell and be silly. But a lot of grown-ups have lost their ability to be silly.”

Seeing the special’s Story Time All Stars act out — whether it’s Anderson bouncing up and down or Rachel Dratch pretending to munch on a kilt — “it gives you permission to do that,” Willems said.