Homer Simpson might get the majority of the laughs, but Mindy Kaling says she owes her offbeat
sense of humor to a different cartoon trailblazer: his wife, Marge.
In an interview with Glamour,
the former "Office" star, whose new show, "The Mindy Project," debuts
on FOX on Sept. 25, opens up about how important "The Simpsons" was to
her as a kid. (Kaling, 33, even channels Bart, Lisa and Maggie's mom in
the accompanying shoot, rocking a green strapless dress, oversized
orange pearls, and that iconic, sky-high blue 'do.)
"Growing up, I
remember my parents feeling a little wary of 'The Simpsons,'" Kaling
explains. "This was in the late '80s and there was a wave of articles
about TV shows that were bad for America. Then we all started watching
it and loved it. Marge Simpson is the one who's really funny. Her
character looks so crazy, but then she's supposed to be totally demure. I
think ['Simpsons' creator] Matt Groening is a genius for giving her
that hair."
The
actress also dishes about how, even in the decade or so she's been in
show biz, things have changed dramatically for women in comedy.
"It
used to be that you had to make female TV characters perfect so no one
would be offended by your 'portrayal' of women," Kaling says. "Even when
I started out on 'The Office' eight years ago, we could write our male
characters funny and flawed, but not the women. And now, thankfully,
it's completely different."
