'The Mindy Project': Mindy Kaling Drew Inspiration From 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'

How 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Inspired 'The Mindy Project'
This publicity photo released by HBO shows Larry David in a scene from "Curb Your Enthusiasm." The program was nominated for an Emmy award for outstanding comedy series on Thursday, July 19, 2012. The 64th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be presented Sept. 23 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and airing live on ABC.(AP Photo/HBO, Jessica Miglio)
This publicity photo released by HBO shows Larry David in a scene from "Curb Your Enthusiasm." The program was nominated for an Emmy award for outstanding comedy series on Thursday, July 19, 2012. The 64th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be presented Sept. 23 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and airing live on ABC.(AP Photo/HBO, Jessica Miglio)

Three episodes in, there's not doubt that Mindy Kaling's character has had her fair share of crazy events and off-color jokes in "The Mindy Project."

And if Mindy Lahiri (Kaling) has started to remind you just a little bit of Larry David's ever-offensive character on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," it's no coincidence.

"On 'Curb Your Enthusiasm,' which is one of my favorite shows, Larry David often acts in a way that could be characterized as obnoxious," Kaling told rollingstone.com. "Most people who watch the show say, 'Oh, Larry's doing something that I wish I could do, but I can't.' My goal with the character is that women – and guys – watching it would see that she's doing what they wish they could do, but can't. When a man does it, maybe you call it obnoxious. When a woman does it ... maybe it's rarer?"

In addition to creating and starring in "The Mindy Project," which has been picked up for a full season, Kaling recently wrote the romantic comedy "The Low Self-Esteem of Lizzie Gillespie."

But the 33-year-old wasn't always so confident in her writing ability.

"I was terrified. The script was 40 pages long," Kaling said of penning an episode of "The Office," on which she played Kelly Kapoor. "[Writers] Mike Schur and BJ Novak turned in lean 32 page drafts that were tight with jokes. I had to learn how to use Final Draft. It was like Podunk They were just super intimidating. They were not the kind of guys that you would necessarily want to be like, 'Hey, can you help me format this?' You wouldn't want to do that."

"The Mindy Project" airs on Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. ET on Fox.

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