Mindy Kaling has mastered the ensemble comedy (see: The Mindy Project, Never Have I Ever and obviously, The Office) so it’s no wonder that her latest series, The Sex Lives of College Girls, is funny as hell…with a twist.
While the breakout stars of the HBO Max series Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, ReneĆ© Rapp and Alyah Chanelle Scott can’t help but gush over working with creator, writer and executive producer Kaling, they also pointed to a few other surprising Hollywood comedy icons as inspiration for forming their eccentric collegiate friend group on-screen.
“I did a lot of research on comedians,” Kaur explained of getting into character as quick-witted Bela. “My mentor and I came up with a long list: Wanda Sykes, Dave Chappelle, Ali Wong, Amy Schumer, so, so, so many and I just studied them. And then I also tried my share of standup which I was not so great at.”
Kaur added, “This is so weird but I felt blessed to be a brown girl who can say dāāk and cāāk on the screen and talk about sex because no brown girl has done that yet, and that is crazy to me. I felt blessed, I guess is the word to say.”
