Mindy Kaling visits the OfficeTally Chat Room

Kate: I’ve found Jim hasn’t really been considerate of Pam in a lot of his decisions –- while they’re all to better their relationship and make her happier he seems to do a lot without consulting her…like buying a house. Do you think his communication skills might broaden over time?
Mindy Kaling: Oh man, did we have a massive debate about the buying the house thing
Kate: yeah?
Mindy Kaling: Several of us were like “who does this? wouldn’t you be annoyed if your boyfriend did this?”
Kate: I was sweating proverbial bullets when they did the walkthrough

Mindy Kaling: and others were like “no, this is the definition of romantic. That’s why they were meant to be together!”
jennifer1111: Totally!
Denise (ddker): me too kate, the whole time i kept saying that she hates it!
aklarkin: Pam’s face! I couldn’t tell what she was thinking!
Amee: Haha, sounds just like the split in the fans about that plot!
limonada: It was the clown. The clown fixed everything.
Mindy Kaling: Pam’s much nicer than me. I’d have been like “you got me this crappy old house with a clown painting that can’t be removed? WTF?”

Mindy Kaling: By the way, the clown scene. John and Jenna could not shoot that without breaking
jennifer1111: LOL!
Kate: hahahahaha yeah, I would be more along the lines of “thank you!…but seriously?”
Mindy Kaling: That was Jason Reitman. We did it like 30 times I remember. When John starts tugging on it, they both lost it

jims_penguin: man was there a male/female split on that assessment of buying a house without her knowledge romance?
Mindy Kaling: I’m not sure how professional it is to say who was against or for storylines, but it was pretty even and incredibly passionate
ChillisBannedMe: haha that’s awesome

asianman696: How did you decide to split Lecture Curcuit into two parts?
Mindy Kaling: It was actually originally a half hour episode
Mindy Kaling: And our first cut, called the editors assembly, was 42 minutes long (an aired episode is 21 and a half minutes long)
Mindy Kaling: And usually it’s very easy to see what needs to be cut, but this one, it was impossible

Mindy Kaling: So Greg was awesome and asked the network if it could be a two parter
aklarkin: I think Lecture Circuit showed that Pam should be a sales person! She really has the people skills!
Mindy Kaling: So i had to write additional material (Andy-Julia and Angela-cat) and we shot that the next week to make up the extra time we needed
EarlyWorm: wow, how great is it to have Greg Daniels on your side?
Mindy Kaling: I miss Greg so much!

limonada: Is Greg still in there with you guys or is he mostly working on Amy’s show?
Mindy Kaling: He’s shooting Parks & Rec and has been gone this past week
Mindy Kaling: Since January he came by a few times a week, and reads all the scripts and gives notes, but since they started shooting, he’s been gone
Mindy Kaling: But he’ll be at our table read tomorrow. Yay
Mindy Kaling: We just love Greg so much, it’s awesome when he can be here. I miss Mike too. ugh.

sorano916: Did making it two parts change the planning out/scheduling of the rest of the season?
Mindy Kaling: The two parts of LC didn’t really change anything else this season, though it did give many of the crew and actors a break, since we basically shot 2 episodes in one

limonada: Why did the network decide to wait until March to air the Valentine’s episode?
Mindy Kaling: That was actually because of Lecture Circuit. We thought it would go right after part two, but there was some scheduling issue where we needed to show reruns
Amee: Yeah, I’m curious about Blood Drive too.
Mindy Kaling: Blood Drive has been an idea we’ve been kicking around since season 1! like weight loss. Great when they finally get realized!

ruby: Mindy, any chance we’ll see Jan Levinson in the remaining episodes of the season? She was such a hot mess!
Mindy Kaling: Jan is SUCH a hot mess. perfect phrasing.
Mindy Kaling: I’m not sure if we’ll see her. I should know, but I don’t. I’m a terrible producer.
Mindy Kaling: I can talk clothes though all day.

aklarkin: I wish Craig Robinson could be in more episodes!
Mindy Kaling: Craig is too popular!
Mindy Kaling: Have you noticed him in EVERY Apatow movie or what? And then in Eastbound and Down too!

Mindy Kaling: I can tell you guys the hottest writer, stuff like that.
silsila: who is the hottest writer? :)
ChillisBannedMe: Clearly we need to know who the hottest writer is….
Mindy Kaling: Lee has traditionally taken that title
Mindy Kaling: Greg thinks so.
jims_penguin: Paul looks awesome in a bowtie though
Mindy Kaling: I think BJ is pretty hot though.

21 comments

  1. Was that fun to read or what??!! Thanks so much for transcribing that awesome chat, Tanster. So wonderful! I love Mindy Kaling’s writing, and her voice and humor really shine in the episodes she writes. I’d seriously be excited to read her grocery shopping list, I’m sure it would make me laugh. It’s so sweet how generous she is to stop by and say hi to us fans. Many thanks!

  2. Thanks for coming in, Mindy! I’m always up for some good fashion talk, lol.

    As for the shorts, hot. What Cat Woman would wear shopping for groceries.

  3. One of the best celeb chats ever….. haha i felt bad for the guys in the room though! We got pretty girlie in there pretty quick!

    My computer had issues halfway through so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the transcript!!(although I have almost gotten caught reading it twice now at work instead of actually working. haha)

    Mindy Kaling complimenting your screen name = priceless

  4. funner than a fashion show at lunch

    mindy you are so sweet for talking to us fans

    the transcript was so funny!

  5. Thank you so much! I love that Mindy writes like she thinks and talks, which cracks me up. Those shorts with heels are weird – definitely NOT hot. They look unnatural and I don’t like the style of either of them. Save your money Mindy and thank you for being awesome!

  6. It never ceases to amaze me that The Office’s cast and writers come in here to chat. specially since mindy was still at WORK! we are the luckiest fans ever.

  7. Mindy, those shorts are hawt :) I love love love them and can’t wait to hear more about the stuff you buy! Keep up the awesome work on The Office and thank you for giving fans a better look at one of the best shows on television.

    Thanks, Tanster, for the transcript and for being awesome. This job is tough, but you make it look so easy :)

    [from tanster: my pleasure! :) ]

  8. Mindy is so sweet! She seems so funny and down-to-earth.

    If you ever see this, Mindy, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

  9. I LOVE MINDY. Wow. She’s so much fun and an awesome writer. Her episodes are always some of the most hilarious through the course of a season. And how cool is it to have Idris Elba on the show? Stringer Bell was pretty much my favorite character on The Wire and that is the only show other than Arrested Development that I’ve watched as religiously as I do with The Office. Aahh, I’m so excited!!

  10. I’ve been thinking about those shorts….. I know. It’s an annoying work day. Clothes are so much more fun to think about.

    I LOVE the shoes… but I feel the shorts need to be a different material. Cute look though.

  11. Thanks for getting the transcript up so quickly Tanster! (I missed the chat by probably about 10-15 minutes :P).

    Leesa- Me too! I’ve been hoping for her to come back ever since she left.

  12. I’m sad I missed this! Thanks for transcribing it Tanster, as always you are THE BEST!

    And love the little tid-bits you threw in there Mindy about what to look forward to with the show coming up this spring. (YEAH AMY RYAN! CAN’T WAIT!!)
    Thanks for chatting Mindy, if you read this, I think you are awesome and thanks for doing this for your fans!!!

  13. Ryan and Kelly getting married? Yes please! I hope she wasn’t just joking, I always thought that would be funny.

  14. yay! Thanks Mindy for the awesome chat and spoilers! Idris–YOWZA! So jealous.
    I agree with Mindy about Jim buying the house, my man would be sleeping in that house alone haha.
    I can’t wait to see what Pam has in store for us in the upcoming episodes. Also great to hear Ryan is coming back. Ack! why does there have to be reruns?:(

  15. That looks like so much fun! Can someone please tell me how I can create an account? Every time I try to click on the create an account link on the chat it never works.

  16. I’m so sorry I missed this live but I’m thrilled to read the transcript. Major big thanks to Mindy and Tanster; this was awesome!

    The Office writers are so nice to us fans…

  17. I was about to go to bed when I thought “I haven’t checked OT all day…I’ll just click on over there real quick”. And there’s this! Totally made my night! Mindy is so awesome(also, whenever I type “mindy” into my iPhone it changes it to “money”, which, although annoying, is actually quite appropriate LOL)

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