Jack McBrayer is the 21st century’s Fred Rogers in children's show 'Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show'

Jack McBrayer brought us Kenneth Parcell on 30 Rock and co-starred with Mariah Carey in the "Touch My Body" music video, but now he’s become the 21st century's Fred Rogers with the children's series, Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show (Season 2 just released on AppleTV+).

McBrayer’s idea for the show was based on bringing children a program that was focused on showing compassion and kindness to others, even if it’s just a small gesture, like a warm greeting. That overarching theme still guides the show’s second season.

"It was mostly a continuation of what we had established earlier on, it was really just hitting those principles of our curriculum," McBrayer told Yahoo Canada. "We wanted to emphasize caring for others, forming a connection and then creating a cascade of kindness.

"So we really just leaned into that curriculum and made it appealing, and fun and gratifying for, especially, younger viewers."

Coming from a comedy background, Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show definitely has some laughs, but it's very serious about its curriculum. That being said, much like we see from McBrayer's more adult-focused work, there's still some some goofing around within the mandate of the show.

"One thing I realized about myself, I'm using the same set of skills to goof around with these child actors that I am with our crew, that I am with our writers, everybody else, and I'm like, 'Oh, maybe this is why I wanted to do this,'" McBrayer said. "I've only got one talent, let me broaden my horizons a bit.

"The kids were just delightful ... It's just really fun to have those people. We got so lucky with how talented they were, we got so lucky with how pleasant their parents were, because we've all heard horror stories about that. Not the case at all for us, we won the lottery with that."

Many of the lessons being taught on Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show are about the kindness to show in friendships. One of the greatest moments for the adults to see in the show are all the cameos from other iconic actors, including Kumail Nanjiani, Kristen Schaal and D'Arcy Carden.

"It was during COVID, so it was kind of a hard sell to get anyone to join us, but these people in particular knew how important this job was to me, they knew how special this was," McBrayer said. "They were legitimately doing me a favour and I cannot thank them enough because that says, 'Hey, I believe in you, I want to support you.' That goes so far in my book and if they ever need anything from me, it's an automatic yes.

"It was mainly people I had conversations with in the past about what I wanted to do with this show. So it's not like anybody came in and was swearing up a storm and had to be like, 'Whoa, D'Arcy Carden, pump the brakes.'"

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood may have set the scene for a show like Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show to thrive, but McBrayer is an insanely captivating, heartwarming person to guide kids through these important lessons.

"I really did want to emulate some of the conversation, some of the language that Fred Rogers used in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood," McBrayer said. "He really was making the whole viewer feel like he was speaking directly to them. I wanted to honour that, I wanted to emulate that."