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, Reneé 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 d––k and c––k 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.”
