-Mo Willems, you are one of my favorites.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
-I'm really happy to be here.
-You taught my kids how to read,
so I want to thank you because...
-Oh, thank you.
-...we are obsessed with all of your books,
but "Elephant and Piggie" books, I think, personally,
as an adult, as a parent, I don't get tried reading them.
I look forward to them. I love how creative they are.
I just love how honest they are and how funny they are.
And I've read them probably more than you have,
if that's possible. -I would hope.
I mean, that's what they're --'
they're built to be read a billion times, you know.
-Yeah.
-It's not about the surprise at the end,
it's about the characters.
And one of the things that I do is I only put in
49% of the book.
You're there, you're jazzed,
and you're performing because you're enjoying the book,
and that makes you come alive.
-You got your start on "Sesame Street," right?
-Which was totally an accident, you know.
I wanted to do sketch comedy,
and I was performing sketch comedy,
and I was with grownups, about grownups.
And when I got hired for "Sesame Street,"
I was like, "Oh, wow, I got on a sketch comedy show.
That's great."
-You were saying there's this one,
was it Rosita, the sketch that you wrote
for "Sesame Street"? -Yeah.
-Or a scene. -Yeah. And I think that --
So I'm really interested in failure,
and all my books are to a certain degree
about characters failing.
And at "Sesame Street," Rosita was going to learn
how to play the guitar, and at the end of the episode,
I wanted to make sure that she didn't.
And the producers, they came back to me and they were like,
"Listen, we like Rosita playing the guitar and all that,
but at the end she really needs to play the guitar."
And I was young. I was in my 20s.
So I said to the producers, "You guys come back tomorrow,
play me 'Stairway to Heaven,' and I'll change the ending."
-[ Laughs ] And the rest is history.
-I think that we really need to talk about failure,
because it's the only thing that all of us do every day.
It's the only thing we have in common is that we fail.
-Yeah, you're right. And you got take that risk
and you got to try certain things.
When this whole quarantine happened,
actually right even before it, you start a thing
called "Lunch Doodles" right out of the gate.
And I was like, "Wait, he's --"
'Cause I thought -- I go, "Wait, we're going to do a show.
We have to do something. Really --"
And then someone was like, "Have you seen
what Mo Willems is doing?" I'm like,
"Is he doing a show already? We just started this."
Like, can't I have one thing?
-Well, that's -- well, Jimmy, this is --
really, the inspiration was I figured
if a talk show host can write a book,
then I should be able to do a show.
-[ Laughing ]
-Right? It's only fair. -Yeah, I agree. I agree.
-Look, I was terrified.
I with us going from Los Angeles
from meetings to D.C. to do a jazz doodle jam
with Jason Moran.
I was going to do some stuff with Ben Folds.
And it all disappeared.
And I've always realized that, like, if this is affecting me,
it's got to be affecting kids, like, how I feel,
how shocked I am, how much I need art.
Right? Because right now art is essential.
Science is going to get us out of this.
But art is going to get us through this.
We're going to be able to understand what's going on.
-I love that.
-We'll be able to handle our emotions.
So I knew that I needed to draw and doodle
just to feel a sense of self.
And if I need that, then probably kids need that as well.
So now is the time the get together and do something.
-You're right. You just got to keep -- yeah.
-So here's the challenge. I'm going to challenge you.
I'm going play a game with you. -Okay.
-This is a gamed called squillem.
I'm just going to make a little -- just a thing,
and then you're going to turn it into a drawing, okay?
And here we go. Just gonna do...
-I will try. -Just like that, right?
And then -- and it doesn't matter because, again,
there is no such thing as a wrong drawing, all right?
So I just made this, just a little squillem.
Right? Just a little thing. -Okay.
Going to turn around the drawing.
So here, I'm going hand it to you. Yeah.
-All right. Thank you very much.
-You got it? -I did get it, thank you.
-Take another pen and turn that into something.
What does that look like to you? That's half of a drawing.
What do you think you can make out of that?
-Okay.
-Yeah.
-I think I see something.
Now I'm getting into something else.
I don't know what it is. But I...
-You're giggling. So that's already a victory.
-[ Laughs ] I am giggling.
But it's just because it's really bad.
-No, no, no, no, no, no!
Let me be the judge of how terrible it is.
Oh, that's excellent!
What are talking about? That's fabulous.
-It's okay? -That's great.
No, absolutely.
-Like a poodle dog or something.
-Yeah, it's a thirsty poodle.
I think the thirsty poodle is
an unrepresented dog cartoon, you know?
-Thank you. -We need more thirsty poodles.
-Thank you. Finally!
I wish someone was around to hear it.
We need more of these. -[ Laughs ]
-We do. -Who was your idol
when you were growing up, Mo?
-Oh, Charles Schulz. Charles Schulz.
-And it was because -- -"Peanuts." Charlie Brown.
"Peanuts," when I was five years old,
I wrote Charlie Schulz a letter that said, "Dear Mr. Schulz,
can I have your job when you're dead?"
-[ Laughs ] Oh, my goodness!
Wow, cut to the chase.
-I know. And then I just waited,
because I was like -- and he not died for a long time.
-That was his response.
That was his response to you. -Yeah, he --
-He just not died. -Exactly.
-He continually not died.
And when he did pass, I was maybe in my late 30s, 40s.
I had become friends with Sparky's widow,
and she brought me to his studio and gave me
one of his nibs, which are the pens that you dip in the ink,
and I drew one of my books with his nib.
-No! -Yeah.
-That's so cool.
Doesn't that feel good? That's the --
-I -- It was great.
And what was crazy was it was so hard to draw with it,
I got angry at it.
You know, I was like, "This pen is difficult to use."
You know, "How dare you be good and good with a difficult pen?"
-[ Laughs ] Yeah, exactly.
-Before we go, though, I have something.
Okay, this is my fan thing. All right?
I just want to indulge it just for a second.
Before the pandemic, this show,
"The Tonight Show," was hosted by a guy
named Johnny Carson. -Of course.
-Right?
Johnny Carson, in between the bits,
there would be a thing that said "More to come."
It would be a drawing. Right?
Do you remember that? -"More to come." Yeah.
-The "More to come" drawing.
Now, when you're a kid, I'm assuming you wanted to be
on "The Tonight Show"? -Absolutely, yeah.
-I wanted to be the "More to come" guy.
-It would say "More to come"
and then you go to the commercial.
-Just a little cartoon. I figured he was this, like,
a guy sitting on the veranda
of his Rolls-Royce, drawing.
Johnny could would come every day and say,
"Oh, excuse me, Mr. Cartoonist,
can I have that 'More to come' drawing?
He'd be like, "Be gone, Mr. Carson."
So I'm on the show, so this is what I made for you.
And really, for me, when I say "for you."
It's a "More to come." -Wow!
-Later tonight on "The Tonight Show,"
"More to come"! -Oh, my God, look at that!
-On "The Tonight Show." There we go.
-How fun is that?
-My life-long dream. There you go.
Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you for letting me do this.
-You're the best, buddy, and I can't wait to see you in person.
Keep it up and thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
-All right, be well. Take care. -Bye, bud.