September 19, 2023 • 35 mins
While growing up in Massachusetts, Mindy Kaling felt like an outsider. Yet the Tony-winning producer, actress, and comedian believes that her upbringing as the child of immigrant put an edge on the singular tone and wit that defines her projects, from The Sex Lives of College Girls, soon to premiere its third season, to the forthcoming Legally Blonde 3. On this week’s episode of Table for Two, Kaling meets host Bruce Bozzi to discuss the specific influences that helped shape her career, and to gossip about Sex and the City, The Office’s Christmas episodes, and raising her two children.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today's episode was recorded before the SAG after a strike
began on July fourteenth.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Table for two.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thanks you as always for tuning in and supporting entertainers.
Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us today on
Table for two. This episode, we're back at the Tower
Bar in Los Angeles for another delightful lunch.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh your back lit? Oh my god, here she is.
Thank you for joining me today at the table.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Today's guest is an Emmy winning actress, writer, and producer
who's so stylish in her Genes striped shirt and diamond
necklace that she gets an A plus on the bossing scale.
Her going into dressed up dressed down mode is all
the more impressive because she recently added mom to her
long list of accomplishments.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm going to have a Caesar salad and steak Fritz
please medium and with some hot sauce on the side.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
You know her from the office that she wrote for
and started, and more recently she created shows like Never
Have I Ever and The Sex Lives of College Girls.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
That solid looks great.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I've never uttered that sentence before, but that's all looks great.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I'm so excited to have a meal today with the marvelous,
Mindy Kaling, So pull up a chair, poor a glass
of rose, and enjoy the show. I'm Bruce Bossi and
this is my podcast Table for Two. You know, my
(01:38):
very good friend Andy Cohen is also a single parent.
I began the process of being a father with the
idea of it being a single parent. And it's really
a very serious decision and a very brave decision, Mindy.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
That you made.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
How did that feel for you when you held your
baby for the first time?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You said, Okay, this dream has come true.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I think my kids are such a huge part of
my life. And I knew growing up. I was always
obsessed with romance and romantic love and obsessing about boys,
even when I was like thirteen, fourteen years old, and
I was like, never someone that boys like wanted to
date or do anything. So it sort of made the
passion and the interest more intense, if that makes sense.
(02:20):
So I was very boy crazy with zero success, and
so I had this pent up interest and I always,
you know, and a lot of projects I write and
work on or about women who are obsessed with marriage,
both because I relate to it and I also think
it's really funny, right and that's why it is fun
and all the padfalls of making decisions to make somebody
love you and how you change yourself and all that. That
is just something that is so interesting to me and
(02:41):
so relatable to me. And there is also a desperation
to it that is, you know, makes you incredibly unhappy
in my twenties, wanting to find someone, anyone to settle
down with. And I think, I mean, that's why I
think the show Sex and the City was so groundbreaking.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
In addition to being so funny and.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So fashionable and completely.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Darren and Michael Patrick King are so great, but it
tapped into this thing of like, you don't have to
be desperate and sad, and that came out when I
was I think from the ages of nineteen to twenty three,
so it came out at a great time, but I
didn't have money or access to that lifestyle, so you know,
I was still sort of a desperate, desperate person who
wanted to be in a relationship. But I feel blessed
(03:25):
because I was also, if might equal to my desire
to find a man, I wanted to have children, and
that intensified when my mother died because for me, it
was like I don't want to be in my deathbed,
hopefully in my like comfortable hospital room or even better
in my own home, and not have anybody around my bed.
I want there to be kids, and I want there
(03:45):
to be grandkids. And that to me was way more
important than these other sort of shallow things of like
I want my six bedroom house in the Palisades and
my kids going to this school with my husband just
a surgeon or the head of a studio. That was
all important to me. But the thing that was the
most important to me was this relationship with my phantom
(04:06):
children that I didn't have, you know, and that when
I got older, that you know, they wouldn't like weird
like I pictured. I'd be like living in New York
City and they'd come visit me and would like walk
to go see place together and then go to the
poll and for dinner and I would you know what
I mean, they'd just hang.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Out with me. When I'm in my sixties and seventies.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Also, there became a thing when all my twenties I
was I would date guys for like two three years
and then break up. And then I was on the office,
which was beyond a full time job. As a producer
and a writer and a director on that show. And
I loved my work, but I stopped when I would
be single in these little windows between boyfriends. I started
(04:46):
in my thirties to really despise going to parties out
here and what I wanted to start doing. And I
don't know if you felt this at all, is I
started being like, I really like this vibe of going
to friends houses and they have kids. It's it's it
was like it was on one level, I want to
have children. I mean, I probable I wanted my social
life to change. I wanted it to look different, like
(05:08):
I didn't need to be going to some house in
the hills and like Outpost or the Birds where you
know there's no parking and you're walking to a party.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
And it was just a bunch of dudes my age
who are interested.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And was very insightful.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I don't know, but I think very insightful for you,
and a lot of people don't sometimes have the fortune
to sort of take a step back and look at
it like that, to sort of say, okay, so therefore
I'm going to change how I live my life, approach
my life. It's like staying at the party too long,
staying in the game too long, and you say okay,
and then you look back and you're like.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Wow, that was exactly it. I didn't want to stay
at the party too long. Yeah, it was the literal party.
I was like, I can't stay at these kinds of
parties anymore.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
One of the things I always say about what has
created a lot of empathy and sympathy in me is
growing up feeling different. When you talk about sort of
feeling different, you know, and I believe that becomes a
power of ours because in it becomes this heightened sense
of empathy, sympathy, kindness.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
FYI.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
The thing I have to just say is, you know,
when I was telling Ava today at breakfast, who I
was having lunch with, She's like, well, does she know
how much I love the office?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Does she know? I'm like, she knows she loved that
huge fan. Do you think you know? How did that?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
How did those years growing up kind of muld mindy
into becoming Time magazine has named in one of the
most one hundred influential people.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Like that's a big deal, madam.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
You kind of yeah, I think you nailed it, Which
is like being an outsider is key, you know, And
for me, I was an outsider in so many different
ways or I always have this chip on my shoulder
growing up, you know, being this like dark skinned Indian girl,
sort of not traditionally attractive, like kind of friendly, overweight
(07:09):
kid that was never dating or anything like that. Like
I really felt like an outsider. And I think one
of the benefits of being the child of immigrants was
like I really had to code switch a lot. Like
when I was growing up, my mom, who is a
busy doctor.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Cokud switch, can you?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I mean, I use it? And now I'm like, do
I even know definition I would? And I'm probably using
it wrong, so please correct me. But the way that
I spoke to my parents or Indian immigrants, uh pretty
traditional and my grandparents and my Indian family was very
different than the way that I talked to my.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Teachers and my friends at school.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And I had to learn how to do that and
it was a challenge, but it was also like incredibly
valuable skill to learn. As someone who wants to be
a writer or a performer is like, Okay, I have
to act this way around this person, this way around
these people, and I somehow have to make it in
both right and by the way, I would see cousins
and Indian children of friends of the family who just
(08:09):
weren't able to do it as much. And I remember
being like, I really want to succeed at both. I
want my teachers to love me and to be well
liked at school, even if nobody wants to date me,
and I want my parents to think I'm a good kid.
And I didn't always succeed, but because I had to
learn that kind of sophisticated tool early on, I think
that was really helpful as a writer, and I think
as someone who could be someone about an ability to
(08:31):
make friends, and so it was a real really felt
like an outsider all the time, and it helped me.
Like when you're a comedy writer, so much of your
life is observing things and noticing that things are like
in the office, like just noticing things that are ironic
and strange and then heightening it for a TV show,
And so I was doing that constant.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
It's amazing because I do think the skill set developed to.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Be able to Christian Lubita is standing behind Madame.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
So glamorous.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Hi, I haven't seen you were too long, Bruce.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I mean the King is here. We're doing a glamorous
We're doing a lunch. It's been way too long, Christian,
I know it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I can't believe you're friends with Christian Lubaiton. By the way,
I've been mince pronouncing his name. Can you say it again,
Christian Lubitan Okay, that's makes me feel bad. And aren't
you so happy that I didn't ask for free shoes.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
In front of you?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I say, that's a missed opportunity.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
God damn it. Okay, I'm going to go over there.
Excuse me, sir, I met you two minutes ago.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Wait, you know what, what's your size?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I'm not saying my shoes. Send them over there, fetishists.
I have enough enough.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Welcome back to the table for two.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Recently, Mindy has been involved in the roy Bowl film
and television production act, spearheaded by George Clooney, Grant Heslow,
my partner, Brian Lord, and many others. The Roybal School
exists to create opportunities in the entertainment world for students
from underrepresented communities. I wanted to know what drew Mindy
to the school, So let's talk a little bit about
(10:43):
the Royball School. You know, so George Clooney and a
Mall and Mindy and Brian really heads of so they
got together and realized that there was something lacking here
in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Brian, Brian and Grant and George.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
It's your it's your story to tell, but it's really important.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Well, first of all, thank you for characterizing it like that.
I'll really say.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
It was a phone call from Brian where he said, hey,
I wanted to talk to you about something. It's actually
about education. And I said, oh, that's interesting. You know
from Brian to hear that, and I know that Brian
is so philanthropically minded, but I hadn't, you know, I'd
only known him as like an agent, and so it's great.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
He's like, can you do a zoom.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
With George and Grant and and they'll be we'll probably
be in like lake come up or it was like
absolutely absolutely, well right, And so I get on a
zoom with them and you are dear friends with George,
(11:52):
and he is I don't. I didn't. I think I
met him like once like an award show that I
had known, but what I I had known of course,
because there's like George Colney that we all hear about
where he is, wants to help in Haiti and Syria,
and you know he's all in the Sudan, like he's
that guy.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
But when I saw this idea, it felt it was so.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Brilliant and I can't believe it hadn't been done yet,
which is like we are in Hollywood. We have we
to hire crews and shows, and they are historically pretty
traditional looking and it's usually like if you look at
a crew on most shows, it's predominantly white.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And that's that it was built and.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Pronominantly met and it's you know, with some exceptions. And
I think that for someone like me, where my entire
career is built on this idea that we're trying to
showcase voices that don't get seen, it's disappointing when you
spend a lot of time with your writers and your
actors feeling that I'm making it diverse, but you're the
(12:52):
crew hasn't sort of caught up, and there's all these
underserved voices who really want to break into the business
and don't know how.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
And so George was explaining this, I was.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Like nodding, and Grant and Brian were explaining this, and
they had this idea of what if we did a
public high school in LA that trained kids to have
these jobs, Like why can't a kid who's going to
high school in LA go on to become an extremely
well paid, union protected hairstylist, grip someone who works in
(13:23):
special effects, you know, so a script coordinator. And I
thought it was such a brilliant idea. And honestly, I
come at these kinds of things. Anything I think of
in sort of like altruistically or philanthropically, I always think
of like will it work business wise? Like is this
going to actually work as a businesswoman? And Hollywood is
not a nonprofit right, and so I want someone that
(13:45):
actually is going to work and will actually make my
job easier to produce shows, not just a charity.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
And that's what I really responded to.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
This is a really really good business idea, a school
that would every year when people graduate, I'm Inndy Haaling
go to the school and say, wonderful, there's someone to
work in the production design office, someone to help, you know,
a costume designer, if not a costume designer themselves, and
hair makeup. And I was like, this will be amazing
because we get scrutinized and we should be scrutinized about
(14:15):
our crews and how they look. And so he explained
this to me. It seems brilliant and I love being
a part of it. And I will say, of the
many things I work on, it's the one thing where
literally Brian or George tell me to show up someplace
and I will just show up, and they are the
brains behind the operation.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
If I can come and meet the.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Secretary of Education or you know, talk to the superintendent
and tell them why I would hire people from them,
that's what I do. But like they're doing the lion's
share of the work and I am showing up.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Another thing that happens with these kids is when you know.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
They are fully embraced and they graduate and they they
are placed. They are in a world that they would
never be able to be a part of.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
And one of the things, one of the things that.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
You do is you know, you paved a way so
epically without those lines in play, so for them to
see you and to when you go to the class
on a given Wednesday afternoon and there's no cameras and
there's no stuff, and you're saying, you're telling your story,
it's monumental.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I mean that is so nice. You know, people talk
about representation so much. Yeah, and it sort of like
if you can't see it, you can't be it. And
so if I can be part of that or show
people that you can do that, then that's amazing. I mean,
what's been so nice is I have an incredible costume
designer named Salvador Perez who is Latino and he's gay,
(15:43):
and you got an Emmy nomination for one of my
shows and he started working with roybal and I think
that's really meaningful.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
He's born and raised in La Yes.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
You know, like he is Mexican American, and he has
gotten to the highest level of costume design and it
hasn't been for him and he is so groundbreaking. And
to be able to be the person that connects him
to the school so people can see that, I'm going
to be like, he's a great life, Like he makes
good money, he's around interesting, fun people all day.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
You know, my drawings that I do and the sewing
that I do, they don't just have to be like
little doodles that I do before I go do whatever
job I'm supposed to do, you know. And so I
think that's exciting. I think it'll be really great when Yeah,
it'll be.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Graduate.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yes, I mean, I really want to stress, however, that
that is this project is completely the brilliant George Glee product,
and it is George and Grant and Brian, and I
feel lucky to just be part of it.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Come and speak about why it's important to me. But
it is.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Truly, it is truly them, and I feel like blessed
to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
And I hear George, Okay, they might have been the
engine that is going to.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Be like I show up more than you done, Cheetle,
really able scrudges. I can't have done hittle mamie.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Right when the industry sort of like kind of exploded,
you know, with the idea of hey, there's not proper representation,
women are not being properly respected.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
You stood in the front of the line too. That's ballsy.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I think it's a challenge when you're trying to start
a company, have at work, be successful, not this one
hit wonder where you're like in some magazine articles one
year and then two years later people have moved on. Yeah,
and also be a role model and someone who stands
up for something I am still learning, Like every day.
It's like I look at people a Kerrie Washington, Ava
(17:48):
DuVernay who are incredible, Maha, you know very well, and
they're so politically engaged and also like, you know, Maha
and Carrie have kids, and literally look at them and
I'm like, how.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Do you do this?
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Because it's you know, the truth is and I'm still learning.
This is like I got into the business when I
was you know, when I was dreaming of doing this
seventeen eighteen, nineteen years old. I wanted to do this
so that I could like write comedy shows and be
on Saturday Night Live and be super successful and famous
and funny and have everyone want to be like me
(18:23):
and be rich and famous in all those things.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
I didn't go into being like how do I change
the status quo?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Like I just wasn't that person and I'm not proud
of it. But that's the truth, right, And I think
that evolving from someone who's like, if you're going to
make it as a comedy writer or make it on TV,
it's like you have to have this singular focus that
is kind of exceeds your talent, right. It means it's
more important than your talent and your belief in yourself.
So then when you shift into this thing, when you're
(18:50):
suddenly an employer and you're like, oh, like, I am
not just this artist who wants to make it big
anymore and make an artistic statement and be have everyone
adore me like it would Steve Martin or David Letterman, right, Like,
I have to be someone who stands for something because
I don't look like Steve Martin and David Letterman. That
is a challenge that I face every day. I'm imperfect
(19:11):
at it. I am always fucking up. I want to
but now it's like I am held accountable by the
people who work for me. I'm held accountable by my
daughter and my son to a user degree, and so
it's something that I'm really learning about. There are times,
you know, I'm right now, we're in the middle of
a writer's strike. It's a very complicated issue, your political issue,
(19:34):
and I pick it. And then we had like a
South Asian picketing event and you know, I'm like, Okay,
I got to go to that. I want to turn
up for my people and show up and know that
I care. It's like important for me to go because
the past five years have been so transformative politically, It's
like there's you can't hide behind anything. You just have
to like be like what am I standing for? And
(19:57):
you can't sort of make a private political decisioning where
you have to be like, well, I'm someone who believes
that women have been treated abhorrently.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Even if I've been.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Sort of lucky, not everyone has been, you know, And
I think that takes a lot when you're just trying
to stay afloat funny to be talking about Sex and
the City because I remember, really, well, that's show. It's
a comedy show. It's in many ways really aspirational. It's feminist,
(20:29):
but it's not overtly political, do you know, which is
why I think it was so popular. And yet at
some point Mitchel Patrick Kenny, I don't know how much
of the how much of the series you've seen, you've
seen everything, and I've seen everything at least once written okay, good.
I didn't want to make generalizations to be like, how
dare you I'm a gay man who has not seen
Sex and the City. But seeing as you're very good
friends with Sarah j Justina Harger, yes, as you should be,
(20:51):
as am I but she was not at the Mecalla
this year.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
I don't think was she.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
I don't think she was.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
No.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I love that, You're like so in tune that I'm
like she was. I don't know why, but I don't.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Yeah, because when she goes it's like an event.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
She takes it seriously. It's a responsibility, it's fashion, she's
making a statement.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
She's one of those people where when I was as
a little tangent when I was at the office and
I I loved fashion and would go and look at
all the photos I'm like getting images were like Elle
would be like here are the best looks or big
wild look.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
At the best looks.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I would as this nerd, this nerdy comedy writer on
the office who was like I'll never get invited to that.
Like whatever I would see and her look, you know,
like she cares so much about the theme and like
interpreting it to such an artist and it seems like
a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
And I just respected that so much, And you're right,
she's an artist, and like there was no like when
she was going like reveal like yeah, very quiet, like
this is.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
What it is.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Yeah, she's just swe and just so her some people
go and it's.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
About them, and it's about I have arrived, you know whatever,
and she's like, I'm here in service to a designer.
I think is really amazing about her because it's not
always that way. You know, people should have forget about
the designers, like their moment to be fabulous in a
kookie costume. But anyway, that was my attendent too. I
remember really well thinking about in Sex and the City,
(22:14):
which is not a political show, when they decided to
do the episode that Carrie had had an abortion.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I don't know if you remember that, but that.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Was a big deal.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Yeah, big deal, right, and really brave and thinking, like,
you know, I do shows that are all about women.
I do a show right now, but it's literally called
the Sex Lives of College Girls. And if those girls
aren't dealing with girls who are getting abortions then And
it's nothing that anyone has pressured me to talk about
or anything, but I'm like, if Carrie Bradshaw, who's the
(22:44):
most beloved character on a worldwide hit, can say that
she's had an abortion, like, what does that mean for shows?
I do? You know?
Speaker 4 (22:50):
And I think it's really cool that they did that.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I agree in that show I think addressed all those issues.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
They address issues of women being sexual and enjoying sex.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
They address issues.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Of you know, having children, not having children, and you know,
so handedly Sarah Jesca Barker and Carrie Bradshaw change downtown
New York and how people just present themselves in the
world all of a sudden, you know, women all across
It is kind of great.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
I'm making this the Sex and City fan podcast.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I know so much. I love it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Thank you for joining us on Table for two. You
probably know Mindy is the wonderful and hilarious Kelly Kapor
on the Office, but you might not know that she
also served as a writer, producer, and director.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I'm curious to know more about her time behind the scenes.
I have to ask for Ava, I mean, I just
have to know. Do you have a favorite episode? Is
you have a favorite?
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:01):
So I love talking about the Office and I don't
get to talk about.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
It that much.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Really, Yeah, I think I don't know. I don't really
do podcasts. Is like one of the two podcasts I've
ever done.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
No, I truly don't. And I love talking about the Office.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
And yeah, I mean I wrote something like twenty four
or twenty five episodes of the show, and one tin
of episode that I always would write was I for
some reason, I wrote a ton of the Christmas episodes.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
When I was growing up as like a TV addict.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, what are your shows?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Well, so I was not picky, so I watched everything
like whatever I could find. So I watched mussy TV
in the nineties was huge for me, who I kind
of felt friends. But I also watched like the shows
that were like in between the hit shows and NBC
even and they were to kind of have like wings
or a single guy or you know, or it'd be
like the brookshul Show.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I'd watch everything some season, yes, you know which. Her documentary,
by the way, is amazing beyond she's.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Incredibentor she's survivor everything. Yeah, I really And I was
in love with her growing up.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah, I mean I was in love with her in
a gay way too, and who wouldn't be.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
And then she like went to Princeton like she really was.
She did everything.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Her husband seems normal, like you know what I mean,
Like she's like her daughters are cool at its from
the one scene in the documentary, right, But I have
nothing to remote. So I'm just here promoting documentaries in
Sex and City.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Okay, so you have what you're doing, what we're doing together,
which I think people that pull up at chure is
we're having lunch, We're having a conversation, and people don't
do that anymore.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
So I would recommend that documentary, which was amazing. And
then did you see the Michael J. Fox documentary?
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Still still loved it, loved it. And I just watched
Almost Done with the Mary Tyler Moore.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Oh, I haven't seen that one, Lindy.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
It's great.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
But the Office, So I loved the Christmas episodes and
here I'm like, I'm not Christian, im hindoo, I've always
loved Christmas. Uh, it's so cinematic to me exactly. And
what I love about Christmas episodes in messy TV in
nineties and the eighties is that there is something where
when you did a Christmas episode, it could be a
little bit more sentimental, something magical could kind of happen
(26:08):
in the episode because everyone's like sort of in the
Christmas spirit. And that was true in the Office, like
we would do these episodes where Michael was often in
a Santa costume and we would because we live in
la Like, we'd shoot these in August when it's like
ninety degrees out in the Deep Valley, and they would
fill it with snow for these exterior shots, since I'd
(26:28):
write these episodes where they always had to go outside
because I wanted them to like fill it because the
show takes place in Pennsylvania, So they fill it with
snow and we'd just get to be in this sort
of fake snowy Christmas like paradise for the six to
seven days that we shot the episode. And so I
love those episodes because I was deeply homesick for the
East Coast and it just it sort of was like
(26:51):
a way for to experience that and sort of have
NBC you pay for it, And so I love and
you could also be a little bit more. That show
was really funny and not very sentimental, and I've felt
in those episodes we were allowed to be a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And you are you surprised sort of like the new
audience that keeps being birthed and appreciates this timeless from
you know, you were telling these stories, You're writing twenty
four to twenty five episodes.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
These are resonating with I am surprised.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
I am surprised because not too much, because I love
the show and the writing staff. You know, almost everyone
who I worked with for like my favorite seasons like
season two and three, have gone on to become like
great showrunners of their own shows and show creators. But
you know, I think what I'm surprised about is that
it was a network show and it felt cool.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Yeah, and that doesn't happen that much anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You know, there's great network shows, Like there's a couple
exceptions like ABBT Elementary, which is such a great show,
but they don't tend to feel cool, and there's something
about that show that feels like now, I think young
people would be like, oh, that feels like a streaming show,
which is why I think it made sense that it
was like on Netflix that people thought, But in terms
of like how it pushed the envelope, I think it's
such a great thing that a show that was like that,
(28:08):
which really demands its audience to be sophisticated, Like you'd
have this guy who'd say things that were offensive, like
you know, Michael Scott and Dwight would say things to
all these protected classes that would offend them and yet
you knew the audience is who's watching it is like
knows that they're not inherently bad people.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
They're just flawed and you can contain multitudes.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
And I think that shows now and underestimate audiences being sophisticated,
but they know that. And so I think one of
the reasons it's so popular now is it feels sort
of like dangerous or like I can't believe they're saying that,
And I miss that about TV, you know, I get
my shows are about a lot of like horny women
who like want to have that NBC and find love,
(28:50):
so we get to push the envelope in a completely
different way. But it's that feels like I hope we
can get to a time where studios feel less afraid
about because the audiences I think are really smart.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
I agree and can handle it.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yes, you don't watch that with Eva and you're like, Okay,
now we have to go a conversation about how Michael
Scott is someone who does microaggressions and like, you get.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
It, she's smart. She knows like you completely don't be
like him, and.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yeah, she doesn't even want me in the room.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
You know. It's so funny we talked about the Officers,
about six and the City, We talk about friends, we
talk about the shows. Seinfeld talk about these shows that
like they hit with people so specifically because they're you know,
based on like real situation, real life situations that are
ever great. So yeah, what I also love about all
these shows is a lot of it all takes place
prior to people looking at their phones.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
I mean, you know, it's all about human I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
I want to talk a little bit about like Legally Blond,
you have the stuff going on now, so leg Levon,
you know, Reese door Rees. We don't want any spoilers,
but like where's you know, al going, Like what do
you guys, what's going on there?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
So I love that project obviously now we sort of
have pencils down because of the writer's strike, but it's
had a couple iterations over the past couple of years,
and I think it's it's it's a challenging project because
of the same reasons what makes it so great, which
is like this is like ell Woods, is like Reese's
Avenger character, and people feel so passionately about this, like
(30:31):
I'm just someone who's coming in to write co write
the third movie and even I see how excited people
are and what is Ellwood's doing in twenty twenty three,
twenty twenty four when culture has changed so much since then,
And so that's tricky as a writer that you know,
writing something that is incredibly funny is a great role
(30:53):
for Reese, but is saying something about feminism now, And
so we've just been trying to nail it. And she's
so busy, and I'm pretty busy, but it most like
she is and she's shooting shows, movies and everything else.
So there isn't this sense from her that she's like
in any way like she loves the character and wants
to do it if it's like exactly right. But she
has no there's not like any kind of like desperation
(31:16):
or anxiety about getting back into the role.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
So it's been taking some time.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Okay, I love that you're you're involved.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
I could talk to Mindy all day, but unfortunately all
meals must come to an act. I wonder what's next
for her, But Mindy has another topic and one of
my favorites on her mind. So as we sort of
like conclude our lunch, which has been so amazing, Mindy
and I.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Just love it. What do you what summer going to
look like for you? You know what a great question?
Speaker 4 (31:51):
What some are going to look like?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Well, I just want to say, because you can't see
this that while Bruce was talking, I was and I'm
a power eater because I have little kids, so I
know how to do it fast. But I had half
of the most delicious steak done medium.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
I don't know why. I'm like, I love hearing about food.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah, I a ton of tabasco sauce and French fries.
And then I started off with this eser salad that
was like one of those delicious ones that had anchovies
and it was loaded with dressing.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Yeah, it was so good. Animasca meal.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, I mean wondering and if I wonder what I had.
I had gold asparagus chicken breast.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
I saw that I didn't touch because I'm just too
busy talking, And but it looks delicious.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
I will say, I think my lunch was better than yours.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
I think yours was. Are you going to take that home?
I mean you kind of should. Protein is protein.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I feel like I can't leave the Sunset Tower with
a doggie bag from this. I feel like it's not
a good look. Although I would I would do that
if you weren't here. This has been so fun. We
didn't even talk about Andy Cohen.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
We didn't talk about it.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
I had a lot of shit to say about that guy.
You know, I really I love him. I mean I
love him, and I love your guys' old friendship. You're
a whole friendship. And I know that it's probably going
to be a book or a TV show or documentary
or something one day. But I think it's amazing to
have old friends. It's like, there's not that's not that common.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
No, I mean, you know, it is a bit of
a Lucy Ethel sort of friendship, and it is where
we're just so connected and we read each other and
I've spoke to him before and he knows I was
sitting here with you and he was super excited.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
And you know, you can't make old friends.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
You know, we saw each other through our twenties and
thirties and forties and fifties and parenthood.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
So I mean, I think one thing that La does
is there's a thing that you get more successful where
you start losing old At least I've been guilty of this.
You start losing old friends because they start to piss
you off because they call you on stuff and you're like,
this is uncomfortable. I just want to be my new
friends who don't call me accountable. And so when people
(33:46):
have old friends, yeah, it's I think a really good
sign of your character and him in particular, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Special Guy's Mindy. I'd like to see more of you
in Los Angeles, LA. Just one of those cities where
like we all have the kind of the intent. But yeah,
for some reason, it's hard.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Well, I'm also an introvert too. I'm okay, introvert.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
We could pull but do small, okay with Brian at
the house, Brian.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
And Andy Cullen and George, you.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Know, just a small group. That's so if you're listening,
that's fine.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Anderson Cooper, okay, just a small Jeff Bezos and laur
intentions just you know.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
That's an easy group to get together. Yeah, just you know,
low key peeps. Thank you so much for pulling up
your chair today. Thank everybody for pulling up your chair today.
I absolutely adore you, Mindy Kaling And this is the
new beginning for us.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I feel yes, and thank you for lunch. At least
I think I'm not paying, although I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
No, I'm picking up the check.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
Table for You with Bruce Bosi is produced by iHeart
Radio seven three seven Park and Airmail. Our executive producers
are Bruce Bozzi and Nathan King. Table for Two is
researched and written by Bridget Arsenalt. Our sound engineers are
Paul Bowman and Alyssa Midcalf. Table for two's la production
team is Danielle Romo and Lorraine viz.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Our music supervisor is Randall Poster. Our talent booking is
by James Harkin.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Special thanks to Amy Sugarman, Uni Cher, Kevin Yuvane, Bobby Bauer,
Alison Kanter, Graber, Barbara and Jen and Jeff Klein, and
the staff at the Tower Bar in the world famous
Sunset Tower Hotel. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Today's episode was recorded before the SAG after a strike
began on July fourteenth.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Table for two.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thanks you as always for tuning in and supporting entertainers.
Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us today on
Table for two. This episode, we're back at the Tower
Bar in Los Angeles for another delightful lunch.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh your back lit? Oh my god, here she is.
Thank you for joining me today at the table.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Today's guest is an Emmy winning actress, writer, and producer
who's so stylish in her Genes striped shirt and diamond
necklace that she gets an A plus on the bossing scale.
Her going into dressed up dressed down mode is all
the more impressive because she recently added mom to her
long list of accomplishments.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm going to have a Caesar salad and steak Fritz
please medium and with some hot sauce on the side.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
You know her from the office that she wrote for
and started, and more recently she created shows like Never
Have I Ever and The Sex Lives of College Girls.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
That solid looks great.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I've never uttered that sentence before, but that's all looks great.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I'm so excited to have a meal today with the marvelous,
Mindy Kaling, So pull up a chair, poor a glass
of rose, and enjoy the show. I'm Bruce Bossi and
this is my podcast Table for Two. You know, my
(01:38):
very good friend Andy Cohen is also a single parent.
I began the process of being a father with the
idea of it being a single parent. And it's really
a very serious decision and a very brave decision, Mindy.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
That you made.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
How did that feel for you when you held your
baby for the first time?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
You said, Okay, this dream has come true.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I think my kids are such a huge part of
my life. And I knew growing up. I was always
obsessed with romance and romantic love and obsessing about boys,
even when I was like thirteen, fourteen years old, and
I was like, never someone that boys like wanted to
date or do anything. So it sort of made the
passion and the interest more intense, if that makes sense.
(02:20):
So I was very boy crazy with zero success, and
so I had this pent up interest and I always,
you know, and a lot of projects I write and
work on or about women who are obsessed with marriage,
both because I relate to it and I also think
it's really funny, right and that's why it is fun
and all the padfalls of making decisions to make somebody
love you and how you change yourself and all that. That
is just something that is so interesting to me and
(02:41):
so relatable to me. And there is also a desperation
to it that is, you know, makes you incredibly unhappy
in my twenties, wanting to find someone, anyone to settle
down with. And I think, I mean, that's why I
think the show Sex and the City was so groundbreaking.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
In addition to being so funny and.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So fashionable and completely.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Darren and Michael Patrick King are so great, but it
tapped into this thing of like, you don't have to
be desperate and sad, and that came out when I
was I think from the ages of nineteen to twenty three,
so it came out at a great time, but I
didn't have money or access to that lifestyle, so you know,
I was still sort of a desperate, desperate person who
wanted to be in a relationship. But I feel blessed
(03:25):
because I was also, if might equal to my desire
to find a man, I wanted to have children, and
that intensified when my mother died because for me, it
was like I don't want to be in my deathbed,
hopefully in my like comfortable hospital room or even better
in my own home, and not have anybody around my bed.
I want there to be kids, and I want there
(03:45):
to be grandkids. And that to me was way more
important than these other sort of shallow things of like
I want my six bedroom house in the Palisades and
my kids going to this school with my husband just
a surgeon or the head of a studio. That was
all important to me. But the thing that was the
most important to me was this relationship with my phantom
(04:06):
children that I didn't have, you know, and that when
I got older, that you know, they wouldn't like weird
like I pictured. I'd be like living in New York
City and they'd come visit me and would like walk
to go see place together and then go to the
poll and for dinner and I would you know what
I mean, they'd just hang.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Out with me. When I'm in my sixties and seventies.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Also, there became a thing when all my twenties I
was I would date guys for like two three years
and then break up. And then I was on the office,
which was beyond a full time job. As a producer
and a writer and a director on that show. And
I loved my work, but I stopped when I would
be single in these little windows between boyfriends. I started
(04:46):
in my thirties to really despise going to parties out
here and what I wanted to start doing. And I
don't know if you felt this at all, is I
started being like, I really like this vibe of going
to friends houses and they have kids. It's it's it
was like it was on one level, I want to
have children. I mean, I probable I wanted my social
life to change. I wanted it to look different, like
(05:08):
I didn't need to be going to some house in
the hills and like Outpost or the Birds where you
know there's no parking and you're walking to a party.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
And it was just a bunch of dudes my age
who are interested.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And was very insightful.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I don't know, but I think very insightful for you,
and a lot of people don't sometimes have the fortune
to sort of take a step back and look at
it like that, to sort of say, okay, so therefore
I'm going to change how I live my life, approach
my life. It's like staying at the party too long,
staying in the game too long, and you say okay,
and then you look back and you're like.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Wow, that was exactly it. I didn't want to stay
at the party too long. Yeah, it was the literal party.
I was like, I can't stay at these kinds of
parties anymore.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
One of the things I always say about what has
created a lot of empathy and sympathy in me is
growing up feeling different. When you talk about sort of
feeling different, you know, and I believe that becomes a
power of ours because in it becomes this heightened sense
of empathy, sympathy, kindness.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
FYI.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
The thing I have to just say is, you know,
when I was telling Ava today at breakfast, who I
was having lunch with, She's like, well, does she know
how much I love the office?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Does she know? I'm like, she knows she loved that
huge fan. Do you think you know? How did that?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
How did those years growing up kind of muld mindy
into becoming Time magazine has named in one of the
most one hundred influential people.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Like that's a big deal, madam.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
You kind of yeah, I think you nailed it, Which
is like being an outsider is key, you know, And
for me, I was an outsider in so many different
ways or I always have this chip on my shoulder
growing up, you know, being this like dark skinned Indian girl,
sort of not traditionally attractive, like kind of friendly, overweight
(07:09):
kid that was never dating or anything like that. Like
I really felt like an outsider. And I think one
of the benefits of being the child of immigrants was
like I really had to code switch a lot. Like
when I was growing up, my mom, who is a
busy doctor.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Cokud switch, can you?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I mean, I use it? And now I'm like, do
I even know definition I would? And I'm probably using
it wrong, so please correct me. But the way that
I spoke to my parents or Indian immigrants, uh pretty
traditional and my grandparents and my Indian family was very
different than the way that I talked to my.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Teachers and my friends at school.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And I had to learn how to do that and
it was a challenge, but it was also like incredibly
valuable skill to learn. As someone who wants to be
a writer or a performer is like, Okay, I have
to act this way around this person, this way around
these people, and I somehow have to make it in
both right and by the way, I would see cousins
and Indian children of friends of the family who just
(08:09):
weren't able to do it as much. And I remember
being like, I really want to succeed at both. I
want my teachers to love me and to be well
liked at school, even if nobody wants to date me,
and I want my parents to think I'm a good kid.
And I didn't always succeed, but because I had to
learn that kind of sophisticated tool early on, I think
that was really helpful as a writer, and I think
as someone who could be someone about an ability to
(08:31):
make friends, and so it was a real really felt
like an outsider all the time, and it helped me.
Like when you're a comedy writer, so much of your
life is observing things and noticing that things are like
in the office, like just noticing things that are ironic
and strange and then heightening it for a TV show,
And so I was doing that constant.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
It's amazing because I do think the skill set developed to.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Be able to Christian Lubita is standing behind Madame.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
So glamorous.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Hi, I haven't seen you were too long, Bruce.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I mean the King is here. We're doing a glamorous
We're doing a lunch. It's been way too long, Christian,
I know it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I can't believe you're friends with Christian Lubaiton. By the way,
I've been mince pronouncing his name. Can you say it again,
Christian Lubitan Okay, that's makes me feel bad. And aren't
you so happy that I didn't ask for free shoes.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
In front of you?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I say, that's a missed opportunity.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
God damn it. Okay, I'm going to go over there.
Excuse me, sir, I met you two minutes ago.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Wait, you know what, what's your size?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I'm not saying my shoes. Send them over there, fetishists.
I have enough enough.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Welcome back to the table for two.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Recently, Mindy has been involved in the roy Bowl film
and television production act, spearheaded by George Clooney, Grant Heslow,
my partner, Brian Lord, and many others. The Roybal School
exists to create opportunities in the entertainment world for students
from underrepresented communities. I wanted to know what drew Mindy
to the school, So let's talk a little bit about
(10:43):
the Royball School. You know, so George Clooney and a
Mall and Mindy and Brian really heads of so they
got together and realized that there was something lacking here
in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Brian, Brian and Grant and George.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
It's your it's your story to tell, but it's really important.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Well, first of all, thank you for characterizing it like that.
I'll really say.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
It was a phone call from Brian where he said, hey,
I wanted to talk to you about something. It's actually
about education. And I said, oh, that's interesting. You know
from Brian to hear that, and I know that Brian
is so philanthropically minded, but I hadn't, you know, I'd
only known him as like an agent, and so it's great.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
He's like, can you do a zoom.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
With George and Grant and and they'll be we'll probably
be in like lake come up or it was like
absolutely absolutely, well right, And so I get on a
zoom with them and you are dear friends with George,
(11:52):
and he is I don't. I didn't. I think I
met him like once like an award show that I
had known, but what I I had known of course,
because there's like George Colney that we all hear about
where he is, wants to help in Haiti and Syria,
and you know he's all in the Sudan, like he's
that guy.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
But when I saw this idea, it felt it was so.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Brilliant and I can't believe it hadn't been done yet,
which is like we are in Hollywood. We have we
to hire crews and shows, and they are historically pretty
traditional looking and it's usually like if you look at
a crew on most shows, it's predominantly white.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And that's that it was built and.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Pronominantly met and it's you know, with some exceptions. And
I think that for someone like me, where my entire
career is built on this idea that we're trying to
showcase voices that don't get seen, it's disappointing when you
spend a lot of time with your writers and your
actors feeling that I'm making it diverse, but you're the
(12:52):
crew hasn't sort of caught up, and there's all these
underserved voices who really want to break into the business
and don't know how.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
And so George was explaining this, I was.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Like nodding, and Grant and Brian were explaining this, and
they had this idea of what if we did a
public high school in LA that trained kids to have
these jobs, Like why can't a kid who's going to
high school in LA go on to become an extremely
well paid, union protected hairstylist, grip someone who works in
(13:23):
special effects, you know, so a script coordinator. And I
thought it was such a brilliant idea. And honestly, I
come at these kinds of things. Anything I think of
in sort of like altruistically or philanthropically, I always think
of like will it work business wise? Like is this
going to actually work as a businesswoman? And Hollywood is
not a nonprofit right, and so I want someone that
(13:45):
actually is going to work and will actually make my
job easier to produce shows, not just a charity.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
And that's what I really responded to.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
This is a really really good business idea, a school
that would every year when people graduate, I'm Inndy Haaling
go to the school and say, wonderful, there's someone to
work in the production design office, someone to help, you know,
a costume designer, if not a costume designer themselves, and
hair makeup. And I was like, this will be amazing
because we get scrutinized and we should be scrutinized about
(14:15):
our crews and how they look. And so he explained
this to me. It seems brilliant and I love being
a part of it. And I will say, of the
many things I work on, it's the one thing where
literally Brian or George tell me to show up someplace
and I will just show up, and they are the
brains behind the operation.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
If I can come and meet the.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Secretary of Education or you know, talk to the superintendent
and tell them why I would hire people from them,
that's what I do. But like they're doing the lion's
share of the work and I am showing up.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Another thing that happens with these kids is when you know.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
They are fully embraced and they graduate and they they
are placed. They are in a world that they would
never be able to be a part of.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
And one of the things, one of the things that.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
You do is you know, you paved a way so
epically without those lines in play, so for them to
see you and to when you go to the class
on a given Wednesday afternoon and there's no cameras and
there's no stuff, and you're saying, you're telling your story,
it's monumental.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
I mean that is so nice. You know, people talk
about representation so much. Yeah, and it sort of like
if you can't see it, you can't be it. And
so if I can be part of that or show
people that you can do that, then that's amazing. I mean,
what's been so nice is I have an incredible costume
designer named Salvador Perez who is Latino and he's gay,
(15:43):
and you got an Emmy nomination for one of my
shows and he started working with roybal and I think
that's really meaningful.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
He's born and raised in La Yes.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
You know, like he is Mexican American, and he has
gotten to the highest level of costume design and it
hasn't been for him and he is so groundbreaking. And
to be able to be the person that connects him
to the school so people can see that, I'm going
to be like, he's a great life, Like he makes
good money, he's around interesting, fun people all day.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
You know, my drawings that I do and the sewing
that I do, they don't just have to be like
little doodles that I do before I go do whatever
job I'm supposed to do, you know. And so I
think that's exciting. I think it'll be really great when Yeah,
it'll be.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Graduate.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yes, I mean, I really want to stress, however, that
that is this project is completely the brilliant George Glee product,
and it is George and Grant and Brian, and I
feel lucky to just be part of it.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Come and speak about why it's important to me. But
it is.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Truly, it is truly them, and I feel like blessed
to be part of it.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
And I hear George, Okay, they might have been the
engine that is going to.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Be like I show up more than you done, Cheetle,
really able scrudges. I can't have done hittle mamie.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Right when the industry sort of like kind of exploded,
you know, with the idea of hey, there's not proper representation,
women are not being properly respected.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
You stood in the front of the line too. That's ballsy.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I think it's a challenge when you're trying to start
a company, have at work, be successful, not this one
hit wonder where you're like in some magazine articles one
year and then two years later people have moved on. Yeah,
and also be a role model and someone who stands
up for something I am still learning, Like every day.
It's like I look at people a Kerrie Washington, Ava
(17:48):
DuVernay who are incredible, Maha, you know very well, and
they're so politically engaged and also like, you know, Maha
and Carrie have kids, and literally look at them and
I'm like, how.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Do you do this?
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Because it's you know, the truth is and I'm still learning.
This is like I got into the business when I
was you know, when I was dreaming of doing this
seventeen eighteen, nineteen years old. I wanted to do this
so that I could like write comedy shows and be
on Saturday Night Live and be super successful and famous
and funny and have everyone want to be like me
(18:23):
and be rich and famous in all those things.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
I didn't go into being like how do I change
the status quo?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Like I just wasn't that person and I'm not proud
of it. But that's the truth, right, And I think
that evolving from someone who's like, if you're going to
make it as a comedy writer or make it on TV,
it's like you have to have this singular focus that
is kind of exceeds your talent, right. It means it's
more important than your talent and your belief in yourself.
So then when you shift into this thing, when you're
(18:50):
suddenly an employer and you're like, oh, like, I am
not just this artist who wants to make it big
anymore and make an artistic statement and be have everyone
adore me like it would Steve Martin or David Letterman, right, Like,
I have to be someone who stands for something because
I don't look like Steve Martin and David Letterman. That
is a challenge that I face every day. I'm imperfect
(19:11):
at it. I am always fucking up. I want to
but now it's like I am held accountable by the
people who work for me. I'm held accountable by my
daughter and my son to a user degree, and so
it's something that I'm really learning about. There are times,
you know, I'm right now, we're in the middle of
a writer's strike. It's a very complicated issue, your political issue,
(19:34):
and I pick it. And then we had like a
South Asian picketing event and you know, I'm like, Okay,
I got to go to that. I want to turn
up for my people and show up and know that
I care. It's like important for me to go because
the past five years have been so transformative politically, It's
like there's you can't hide behind anything. You just have
to like be like what am I standing for? And
(19:57):
you can't sort of make a private political decisioning where
you have to be like, well, I'm someone who believes
that women have been treated abhorrently.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Even if I've been.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Sort of lucky, not everyone has been, you know, And
I think that takes a lot when you're just trying
to stay afloat funny to be talking about Sex and
the City because I remember, really, well, that's show. It's
a comedy show. It's in many ways really aspirational. It's feminist,
(20:29):
but it's not overtly political, do you know, which is
why I think it was so popular. And yet at
some point Mitchel Patrick Kenny, I don't know how much
of the how much of the series you've seen, you've
seen everything, and I've seen everything at least once written okay, good.
I didn't want to make generalizations to be like, how
dare you I'm a gay man who has not seen
Sex and the City. But seeing as you're very good
friends with Sarah j Justina Harger, yes, as you should be,
(20:51):
as am I but she was not at the Mecalla
this year.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
I don't think was she.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
I don't think she was.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
No.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I love that, You're like so in tune that I'm
like she was. I don't know why, but I don't.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Yeah, because when she goes it's like an event.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
She takes it seriously. It's a responsibility, it's fashion, she's
making a statement.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
She's one of those people where when I was as
a little tangent when I was at the office and
I I loved fashion and would go and look at
all the photos I'm like getting images were like Elle
would be like here are the best looks or big
wild look.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
At the best looks.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I would as this nerd, this nerdy comedy writer on
the office who was like I'll never get invited to that.
Like whatever I would see and her look, you know,
like she cares so much about the theme and like
interpreting it to such an artist and it seems like
a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
And I just respected that so much, And you're right,
she's an artist, and like there was no like when
she was going like reveal like yeah, very quiet, like
this is.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
What it is.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Yeah, she's just swe and just so her some people
go and it's.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
About them, and it's about I have arrived, you know whatever,
and she's like, I'm here in service to a designer.
I think is really amazing about her because it's not
always that way. You know, people should have forget about
the designers, like their moment to be fabulous in a
kookie costume. But anyway, that was my attendent too. I
remember really well thinking about in Sex and the City,
(22:14):
which is not a political show, when they decided to
do the episode that Carrie had had an abortion.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I don't know if you remember that, but that.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Was a big deal.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Yeah, big deal, right, and really brave and thinking, like,
you know, I do shows that are all about women.
I do a show right now, but it's literally called
the Sex Lives of College Girls. And if those girls
aren't dealing with girls who are getting abortions then And
it's nothing that anyone has pressured me to talk about
or anything, but I'm like, if Carrie Bradshaw, who's the
(22:44):
most beloved character on a worldwide hit, can say that
she's had an abortion, like, what does that mean for shows?
I do? You know?
Speaker 4 (22:50):
And I think it's really cool that they did that.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I agree in that show I think addressed all those issues.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
They address issues of women being sexual and enjoying sex.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
They address issues.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Of you know, having children, not having children, and you know,
so handedly Sarah Jesca Barker and Carrie Bradshaw change downtown
New York and how people just present themselves in the
world all of a sudden, you know, women all across
It is kind of great.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
I'm making this the Sex and City fan podcast.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I know so much. I love it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Thank you for joining us on Table for two. You
probably know Mindy is the wonderful and hilarious Kelly Kapor
on the Office, but you might not know that she
also served as a writer, producer, and director.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I'm curious to know more about her time behind the scenes.
I have to ask for Ava, I mean, I just
have to know. Do you have a favorite episode? Is
you have a favorite?
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:01):
So I love talking about the Office and I don't
get to talk about.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
It that much.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Really, Yeah, I think I don't know. I don't really
do podcasts. Is like one of the two podcasts I've
ever done.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
No, I truly don't. And I love talking about the Office.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
And yeah, I mean I wrote something like twenty four
or twenty five episodes of the show, and one tin
of episode that I always would write was I for
some reason, I wrote a ton of the Christmas episodes.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
When I was growing up as like a TV addict.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, what are your shows?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Well, so I was not picky, so I watched everything
like whatever I could find. So I watched mussy TV
in the nineties was huge for me, who I kind
of felt friends. But I also watched like the shows
that were like in between the hit shows and NBC
even and they were to kind of have like wings
or a single guy or you know, or it'd be
like the brookshul Show.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I'd watch everything some season, yes, you know which. Her documentary,
by the way, is amazing beyond she's.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Incredibentor she's survivor everything. Yeah, I really And I was
in love with her growing up.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah, I mean I was in love with her in
a gay way too, and who wouldn't be.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
And then she like went to Princeton like she really was.
She did everything.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Her husband seems normal, like you know what I mean,
Like she's like her daughters are cool at its from
the one scene in the documentary, right, But I have
nothing to remote. So I'm just here promoting documentaries in
Sex and City.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Okay, so you have what you're doing, what we're doing together,
which I think people that pull up at chure is
we're having lunch, We're having a conversation, and people don't
do that anymore.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
So I would recommend that documentary, which was amazing. And
then did you see the Michael J. Fox documentary?
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Still still loved it, loved it. And I just watched
Almost Done with the Mary Tyler Moore.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Oh, I haven't seen that one, Lindy.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
It's great.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
But the Office, So I loved the Christmas episodes and
here I'm like, I'm not Christian, im hindoo, I've always
loved Christmas. Uh, it's so cinematic to me exactly. And
what I love about Christmas episodes in messy TV in
nineties and the eighties is that there is something where
when you did a Christmas episode, it could be a
little bit more sentimental, something magical could kind of happen
(26:08):
in the episode because everyone's like sort of in the
Christmas spirit. And that was true in the Office, like
we would do these episodes where Michael was often in
a Santa costume and we would because we live in
la Like, we'd shoot these in August when it's like
ninety degrees out in the Deep Valley, and they would
fill it with snow for these exterior shots, since I'd
(26:28):
write these episodes where they always had to go outside
because I wanted them to like fill it because the
show takes place in Pennsylvania, So they fill it with
snow and we'd just get to be in this sort
of fake snowy Christmas like paradise for the six to
seven days that we shot the episode. And so I
love those episodes because I was deeply homesick for the
East Coast and it just it sort of was like
(26:51):
a way for to experience that and sort of have
NBC you pay for it, And so I love and
you could also be a little bit more. That show
was really funny and not very sentimental, and I've felt
in those episodes we were allowed to be a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And you are you surprised sort of like the new
audience that keeps being birthed and appreciates this timeless from
you know, you were telling these stories, You're writing twenty
four to twenty five episodes.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
These are resonating with I am surprised.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
I am surprised because not too much, because I love
the show and the writing staff. You know, almost everyone
who I worked with for like my favorite seasons like
season two and three, have gone on to become like
great showrunners of their own shows and show creators. But
you know, I think what I'm surprised about is that
it was a network show and it felt cool.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Yeah, and that doesn't happen that much anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You know, there's great network shows, Like there's a couple
exceptions like ABBT Elementary, which is such a great show,
but they don't tend to feel cool, and there's something
about that show that feels like now, I think young
people would be like, oh, that feels like a streaming show,
which is why I think it made sense that it
was like on Netflix that people thought, But in terms
of like how it pushed the envelope, I think it's
such a great thing that a show that was like that,
(28:08):
which really demands its audience to be sophisticated, Like you'd
have this guy who'd say things that were offensive, like
you know, Michael Scott and Dwight would say things to
all these protected classes that would offend them and yet
you knew the audience is who's watching it is like
knows that they're not inherently bad people.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
They're just flawed and you can contain multitudes.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
And I think that shows now and underestimate audiences being sophisticated,
but they know that. And so I think one of
the reasons it's so popular now is it feels sort
of like dangerous or like I can't believe they're saying that,
And I miss that about TV, you know, I get
my shows are about a lot of like horny women
who like want to have that NBC and find love,
(28:50):
so we get to push the envelope in a completely
different way. But it's that feels like I hope we
can get to a time where studios feel less afraid
about because the audiences I think are really smart.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
I agree and can handle it.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yes, you don't watch that with Eva and you're like, Okay,
now we have to go a conversation about how Michael
Scott is someone who does microaggressions and like, you get.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
It, she's smart. She knows like you completely don't be
like him, and.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yeah, she doesn't even want me in the room.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
You know. It's so funny we talked about the Officers,
about six and the City, We talk about friends, we
talk about the shows. Seinfeld talk about these shows that
like they hit with people so specifically because they're you know,
based on like real situation, real life situations that are
ever great. So yeah, what I also love about all
these shows is a lot of it all takes place
prior to people looking at their phones.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
I mean, you know, it's all about human I mean.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
I want to talk a little bit about like Legally Blond,
you have the stuff going on now, so leg Levon,
you know, Reese door Rees. We don't want any spoilers,
but like where's you know, al going, Like what do
you guys, what's going on there?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
So I love that project obviously now we sort of
have pencils down because of the writer's strike, but it's
had a couple iterations over the past couple of years,
and I think it's it's it's a challenging project because
of the same reasons what makes it so great, which
is like this is like ell Woods, is like Reese's
Avenger character, and people feel so passionately about this, like
(30:31):
I'm just someone who's coming in to write co write
the third movie and even I see how excited people
are and what is Ellwood's doing in twenty twenty three,
twenty twenty four when culture has changed so much since then,
And so that's tricky as a writer that you know,
writing something that is incredibly funny is a great role
(30:53):
for Reese, but is saying something about feminism now, And
so we've just been trying to nail it. And she's
so busy, and I'm pretty busy, but it most like
she is and she's shooting shows, movies and everything else.
So there isn't this sense from her that she's like
in any way like she loves the character and wants
to do it if it's like exactly right. But she
has no there's not like any kind of like desperation
(31:16):
or anxiety about getting back into the role.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
So it's been taking some time.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Okay, I love that you're you're involved.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
I could talk to Mindy all day, but unfortunately all
meals must come to an act. I wonder what's next
for her, But Mindy has another topic and one of
my favorites on her mind. So as we sort of
like conclude our lunch, which has been so amazing, Mindy
and I.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Just love it. What do you what summer going to
look like for you? You know what a great question?
Speaker 4 (31:51):
What some are going to look like?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Well, I just want to say, because you can't see
this that while Bruce was talking, I was and I'm
a power eater because I have little kids, so I
know how to do it fast. But I had half
of the most delicious steak done medium.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
I don't know why. I'm like, I love hearing about food.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah, I a ton of tabasco sauce and French fries.
And then I started off with this eser salad that
was like one of those delicious ones that had anchovies
and it was loaded with dressing.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Yeah, it was so good. Animasca meal.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, I mean wondering and if I wonder what I had.
I had gold asparagus chicken breast.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
I saw that I didn't touch because I'm just too
busy talking, And but it looks delicious.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
I will say, I think my lunch was better than yours.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
I think yours was. Are you going to take that home?
I mean you kind of should. Protein is protein.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I feel like I can't leave the Sunset Tower with
a doggie bag from this. I feel like it's not
a good look. Although I would I would do that
if you weren't here. This has been so fun. We
didn't even talk about Andy Cohen.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
We didn't talk about it.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
I had a lot of shit to say about that guy.
You know, I really I love him. I mean I
love him, and I love your guys' old friendship. You're
a whole friendship. And I know that it's probably going
to be a book or a TV show or documentary
or something one day. But I think it's amazing to
have old friends. It's like, there's not that's not that common.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
No, I mean, you know, it is a bit of
a Lucy Ethel sort of friendship, and it is where
we're just so connected and we read each other and
I've spoke to him before and he knows I was
sitting here with you and he was super excited.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
And you know, you can't make old friends.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
You know, we saw each other through our twenties and
thirties and forties and fifties and parenthood.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
So I mean, I think one thing that La does
is there's a thing that you get more successful where
you start losing old At least I've been guilty of this.
You start losing old friends because they start to piss
you off because they call you on stuff and you're like,
this is uncomfortable. I just want to be my new
friends who don't call me accountable. And so when people
(33:46):
have old friends, yeah, it's I think a really good
sign of your character and him in particular, you know.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Special Guy's Mindy. I'd like to see more of you
in Los Angeles, LA. Just one of those cities where
like we all have the kind of the intent. But yeah,
for some reason, it's hard.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Well, I'm also an introvert too. I'm okay, introvert.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
We could pull but do small, okay with Brian at
the house, Brian.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
And Andy Cullen and George, you.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Know, just a small group. That's so if you're listening,
that's fine.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Anderson Cooper, okay, just a small Jeff Bezos and laur
intentions just you know.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
That's an easy group to get together. Yeah, just you know,
low key peeps. Thank you so much for pulling up
your chair today. Thank everybody for pulling up your chair today.
I absolutely adore you, Mindy Kaling And this is the
new beginning for us.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I feel yes, and thank you for lunch. At least
I think I'm not paying, although I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
No, I'm picking up the check.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
Table for You with Bruce Bosi is produced by iHeart
Radio seven three seven Park and Airmail. Our executive producers
are Bruce Bozzi and Nathan King. Table for Two is
researched and written by Bridget Arsenalt. Our sound engineers are
Paul Bowman and Alyssa Midcalf. Table for two's la production
team is Danielle Romo and Lorraine viz.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Our music supervisor is Randall Poster. Our talent booking is
by James Harkin.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Special thanks to Amy Sugarman, Uni Cher, Kevin Yuvane, Bobby Bauer,
Alison Kanter, Graber, Barbara and Jen and Jeff Klein, and
the staff at the Tower Bar in the world famous
Sunset Tower Hotel. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
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