A Mash Note to Mindy Kaling

TV

The Mindy Project – I have become a devoted fan of Mindy Kaling's hilarious and adorable sitcom. Kaling plays an Ob/Gyn in a workplace-as-family setup filled with quirky characters and ridiculous situations. That may sound typical of modern comedies, but I find a lot of my laughs (and, yes, cries) in unexpected moments. Unexpected for me, that is, but well-timed and carefully written by Kaling and her team. A friend recently compared The Mindy Project to Scrubs, and while I don't deny the parallels (doctors, silly situations, romance, and heartfelt moments), I'm not sure that I agree. Whereas Scrubs, an excellent show in its own right (the early seasons, anyway), focused on 20-somethings just starting to make a place for themselves in the world, The Mindy Project is about mostly-30-somethings who are already midstream in life. Even in the midst of the quirkiness and only-on-TV antics, there's an undercurrent of recognizing what it means to be an adult, whether you feel old enough for it or not.

Books

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling – I found this part-memoir, part-humorous essay, and part-advice book to be funny, engaging, and more than a little jealousy-inducing as a writer. Like a friend telling you her best stories, Kaling writes about her path from sensitive, chubby kid to successful Hollywood writer, a path paved with equal parts talent, hard work, and great timing. 

And speaking of friends, I also discovered that Kaling and I could be great friends. I don't mean that in a stalker-ish way. I just think that if Mindy (may I call you Mindy?) and I were to actually meet, we would bond over our shared experiences of growing up in Massachusetts with academic-achievement-oriented immigrant parents who fully support and encourage us without completely understanding what we plan to do. Of course it's good when friends bring something unique to their relationship. Mindy would totally rock the shopping/fashion knowledge in our friendship because I'm an embarrassment in that arena, while I could throw around hilarious and informative stories about raising children. But most of all, though I'm a touch older than Mindy, I think I have a lot to learn from her. In the book, Mindy shares some of her most embarrassing moments. Whether she's talking about break-ups with boyfriends, unsuccessful auditions, fights with her Office boss Greg Daniels, or having a dress size bigger than 0 in Hollywood, it is often both painful and hilarious. As someone who grew up terribly afraid of embarrassment, I find it freeing to read how Mindy could stumble through each embarrassing moment and still end up okay. More than okay, in fact, because she can accept it, embrace it, and then write the hell out of it.

P.S. I totally agree with Mindy that men should have chest hair and comedy roasts are terrible.

P.P.S. Mindy, call me!