Little Happier: Mindy Kaling’s “Rules for Writing” Show That We Can Be Funny Without Being Mean

Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin / The Onward Project

Education, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement

4.7 • 13K Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2021

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mindy Kaling is a successful and productive writer, actor, and director. She’s hilarious and brilliant. In her “Rules for Writing,” she explains how to be funny—without being mean. Get in touch: @gretchenrubin; [email protected] Get in touch on Instagram: @GretchenRubin Get the podcast show notes by email every week here: http://gretchenrubin.com/#newsletter Order a copy of Gretchen’s new book OUTER ORDER, INNER CALM here: http://outerorderinnercalmbook.com Leave a voicemail message on: 774-277-9336 For information about advertisers and promo codes, go to happiercast.com/sponsors. Happier with Gretchen Rubin is part of ‘The Onward Project,’ a family of podcasts brought together by Gretchen Rubin—all about how to make your life better. Check out the other Onward Project podcasts—Do The Thing, Side Hustle School, Happier in Hollywood and Everything Happens with Kate Bowler. If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Many of us are already planning our New Year's resolutions to work out more in 2023.
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0:30.2	I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is A Little Happier.
0:33.3	I am a huge fan of Mindy Kaling. I love the brilliant TV show The Office and she played a huge role
0:40.1	there as a writer, producer, director, and as an actor as Kelly Kapoor. She wanted to create the Mindy
0:46.2	project. The blockbuster never had ever. She started movies like Ocean's 8 in a wrinkle in time.
0:52.4	She's been a voice actor for movies like Inside Out and Despicable Me.
0:56.1	And if that is not enough, she has also written two excellent best-selling memoirs.
1:01.2	Is everyone hanging out without me and other concerns? And why not me?
1:06.9	In 2013, Mindy Kaling was on the cover of Entertainment Weekly magazine,
1:11.3	and the accompanying article included Mindy's Rules for Writing,
1:15.4	which is the voice checklist that hangs in her writer's rooms.
1:18.8	The truth is, she explained, it's much easier to write a bunch of mean singers.
1:24.0	Here are some of my favorite points from that checklist.
1:27.4	Characters are helpful in kind. Characters are polite.
1:32.4	Conflicts should never come from a desire to be cruel or mean.
	...

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