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 Office star — whose new show, The Mindy Project, debuts on FOX September 25 — opens up about how important The Simpsons were 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 eighties 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."
