Mindy Kaling Reading (Speaking... Event... Whatever)

Last night a good friend and I left our little ones with their dad's and drove out to Glendale to listen to Mindy Kaling promote her new book, Why Not Me? at the Alex Theater. I had just finished listening to Kaling's first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) a week or so ago, so I felt like I knew more about her and her career than I would have beforehand (I know her from The Office and have yet to watch The Mindy Project). 

Kaling was interviewed by writer Matt Warburton and was as cute, charming, and funny as one would expect. She spent a lot of time talking about her place in the industry, writing process, workaholic tendencies, and gave her take on a hilarious story involving Amy Schumer getting ahold of Katie Couric's cell phone at a Glamour dinner. She answered several pre-selected audience questions that weren't anything groundbreaking, but still interesting to hear the answers to, ranging from who inspires her to who she would invite to a dinner party (she ended up settling on serial killers). 

I was surprised by the fact that she has some serious groupies that loved to shout out things randomly like "I love you Mindy!" (which I sort of hate). Apparently people started lining up five or six hours before the event to score front row tickets. I think she's great and an awesome role model, but had no idea that she had such a following. Good for her. I guess you can't help but to like her! 

More than anything, it was just nice to get back out to an event like I used to do all the time! I'm a little sad about missing so many great authors this fall (although I've seen most of them before), so it was a treat to at least be involved in something for once. Plus, it's always nice to sub the diaper bag for my purse and not have to worry about whether or not I remembered the Cheddar Bunnies.