Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Although Mindy Kaling is a well-known actress, her career roots are in writing. Kaling gained a reputation as a comedic actress and writer when she and Brenda Withers, Kaling’s friend from college, developed a play about actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who wrote the film Good Will Hunting. Kaling and Withers capitalized on a pervasive joke in pop culture that the film was too good to have been written by the two men. In the play Matt & Ben, Matt Damon, portrayed by Kaling, and Ben Affleck receive the script for Good Will Hunting from a divine power. Like Kaling’s memoir Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) and her writing for television and film, the play utilizes several important techniques in comedy writing.

Kaling uses numerous techniques, including pop culture references, satire, and juxtaposition to make the play and her other comedic endeavors work. By developing Matt & Ben around two famous actors, Kaling and Withers increased audience engagement by playing on their viewers' prior knowledge. Pop culture references work well in comedic writing because they draw on shared experience. The audience can experience either nostalgia or a sense of being “in on the joke” by being aware of up-to-date cultural references. Kaling employs this technique in her other comedic works, including the source material. However, pop culture references can also date a work, causing it to lose its relevance over time.

Satire is another important feature in Kaling’s work. Kaling uses satire to examine how Hollywood treats women, especially women of color, such as in issues of typecasting or tropes. She criticizes the “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” and the quirky best friend who appear repeatedly in media fiction. Kaling also uses satire to explore relationships, maturity, and gender roles. While working on NBC’s The Office, Kaling was responsible for writing 18 scripts on her own, including a popular episode titled “The Injury.” Michael Scott, the office’s branch manager, decides that he wants to wake up to freshly cooked bacon and sets up an electric grill next to his bed. In the morning, he forgets about the grill and steps on it. Michael uses his injury to claim he has a disability. Kaling uses the episode to satirize prevalent misunderstandings about disabilities, workplace hierarchies, and power dynamics.

This episode, like many other episodes of The Office, relies on the comedic technique of hyperbole, or exaggeration. In her show The Mindy Project, Mindy Kaling’s character, a gynecologist named Dr. Mindy Lahiri, frequently touts her belief that her romantic life should perfectly resemble the relationships she sees in her favorite romantic comedies. Her over-the-top reactions and dramatic reactions to minor inconveniences play up the comedy of the character’s hyperbolic view on life.

Hyperbole can be especially effective when partnered with juxtaposition. This involves placing two characters or concepts side-by-side to draw attention to their differences. For example, Dr. Lahiri’s exaggerated romanticism is emphasized by the seriousness and rationalism of the lead romantic interest. In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Kaling contrasts her academically serious and sheltered childhood to mainstream American culture and the expectations of Hollywood, inflating her qualities by comparison.