Kaling is one of the busiest personalities in the entertainment business.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Mindy Kaling has never been one to rest on her laurels, and the past year or so has been no exception. From working on her eponymous sitcom — which was cancelled after its third season on Fox but subsequently picked up by Hulu — to giving commencement speeches at Harvard, to writing a second book, Kaling has courted a veritable whirlwind of publicity.
Most recently, Kaling voiced the character named Disgust in Pixar’s latest offering, “Inside Out,” in which the protagonist interacts with anthropomorphized versions of her key emotion: Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith, Kaling’s castmate in “The Office”), and of course, Disgust.
“I do relate to those anxieties, definitely,” Kaling, 35, told the Daily News. “I’m a pretty anxious person even today,” she continued, which may surprise fans who are more accustomed to the inherently confident, bubbly personality they’ve come to know and love.
Earlier this month, Kaling and B.J. Novak confirmed they are working on a book together that will delve even further into their complicated relationship. Novak and Kaling were both supporting cast members, co-writers, and co-producers on “The Office.”
Speaking to InStyle, Kaling said of Novak, “I will freely admit: My relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell. He is not my boyfriend, but he is not my best friend. I guess you could describe our relationship as a ‘romantically charged camaraderie with loud arguments,’ but I don’t think Facebook would accept this as a new status.”
The two are professed best friends, and have enjoyed an on-again, off-again romance in the past. Both have addressed their “intense” relationship, with Kaling touching on it in her two books, but the co-authored memoir should incise even further.
“I don’t know how amazingly complex it [the relationship] is,” she exclaimed to the Daily News with a laugh. “It makes me sound cooler than I am! But we have a fun dynamic that’s very — uh — yeah,” she added, before trailing off.
Novak explained to CBS News that the project is “very early in the creative process” and that won’t be released for a while.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Kaling told CBS on the first day of June. “We just started working on it. I love working with him … and the ideas that we’ve had so far have been super exciting.”
While fans are hungrily waiting for Kaling and Novak’s joint literary endeavor, they’ll be able to grab a “designer burger” that she is designing for South California-based Umami Burger, the chain announced last week.
While details are scarce, a spokesperson for the restaurant told Eater the burger will likely debut in September to coincide with the launch of Kaling’s second book, “Why Not Me,” as well as the premiere of new season of The Mindy Project on Hulu.