-Okay. Yeah.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
What are you doing here, Rainn?
I'm not interested in doing your weird talk show
in your gross pedophile van, okay?
I'm not gonna come into your disgusting van
and talk to you about spirituality.
Look at my life.
I have a blinged-out hat. I have a blinged-out phone.
I date a black guy.
I don't have time
to sit in your weird "Scooby-Doo" van.
[ Sighs ]
But I do miss you.
And I do consider you a friend that I never see.
[ Sighs ]
And I guess this would be a way for us to connect.
Hold on.
Just get me two of everything --
black diamonds, regular diamonds.
No, I don't care if they're blood diamonds.
You know that about me.
Okay. Okay. I love you, too.
Let's do this, Rainn.
-Take a sip from your soul
On a metaphysical milkshake
-So, Rainn, I assume this van,
you got on a deal from the government
'cause it was a piece of evidence from a murder case.
-Yeah. That's right.
There was a ritual murder/suicide of a family of 12
that was killed in the back of this van.
-And you picked this color to cover bloodstains?
-The bloodstains -- yeah, definitely.
-By the way, I think that's very entrepreneurial of you.
-Ohh! Thanks, Min.
-I haven't seen you in a long time.
-I know. -Yeah.
No. Go ahead.
-This is our opportunity to catch up a little bit.
-If I have to talk about spiritualism,
if that's the way that I have to hang out with you --
-I don't -- never heard the word "spiritualism" before.
I don't think that's a word.
We talk about life's big questions
and profound topics.
-You know that I'm very -- have a great discomfort with that.
You've noticed that, I think, in the past.
-Yeah.
-In that, like, I'm like, "That side of Rainn
is the side of the Rainn that I will never get."
-I know you as a superficial, materialistic flibbertigibbet.
-Exactly.
-That's why I wanted to talk to you.
I want to see another side of you.
-Um, all right. Me too.
I think that'd be nice. -Okay.
So, this is a van
that has very special properties, as you know.
It can really take you
pretty much anywhere you want to go in the world.
So, where do you want to go with me today?
-Where do I want to go with you? -Mm-hmm.
Anywhere. Anywhere.
-To CVS and Whole Foods to run some errands.
Where in the mind's eye do I want to go to?
A place of catharsis and enlightenment.
Whoa!
-[ Laughs ]
-Rainn!
-Yeah. You see?
-That's awesome. -Yeah.
So, Mindy, you grew up Hindu. -Mm-hmm.
-What was that like, growing up in a Hindu family?
I think a lot of our viewers are not Hindu
or don't have any idea about Hinduism.
-I've talked about it in, actually,
both of the shows I've been on.
I don't know very much.
My character on both shows I've been on
has been, like, identified as Hindu
but also doesn't have a deep connection to it.
I don't actually even think my parents know that much
about the different gods.
-Your mother passed away a year or two ago.
-Yeah.
-What did you take away from that experience
of such a close death in your family?
-At the beginning, I remember thinking,
like, "F-ck God. Like, what the f-ck?"
Like, I've never prayed so much about anything.
But then, for some reason, since she's passed,
I do feel a connection with her still.
-Mm-hmm. -And I've always been surprised
at how our relationship has continued
even though she's not here.
So then I'm like, "Well,
what is that a piece of evidence for?"
-Well, I think that one of the things
that we try to do at SoulPancake
and one of the things that's important to me is,
like, redefining some of these big words.
You hear "God," you hear "spirituality,"
you hear "religion,"
and most people have very negative connotations.
I feel like only "religion" has pejorative connotations.
I feel like "spirituality" and "God" do not yet.
But have you found in discussing these things --
-I think a lot of people, when they talk about God,
they have a view of a persona looking down
and generally being judgmental.
But I don't believe in, like, some scowling father figure.
-Who you have described would be a great comic character,
a scowling father figure.
-I would love to do a sitcom
where I play a scowling father figure.
-"God: The Sitcom," with you as God.
-I would love that.
That would feed my ego and narcissism perfectly.
-With a couple teenagers.
-Having to raise teenager daughters.
-Even God can't do it. -Even God can't do it.
I find, like -- in the comedy world of Hollywood,
I find it a little bit oppressive
because you can't talk about some heavier stuff sometimes.
Everyone is just trying to up each other
in being funny and quick-witted and stuff like that.
-No. It's true.
-And I just get so tired of that sometimes.
-No, it's exhausting.
-Look. Smell.
-Mmm.
Okay. That's enough. That's enough.
Did you do that with Joseph Gordon-Levitt?
-No. -Yeah.
-He's a big movie star.
-[ Laughing ] I know he is.
-Congratulations on your show.
It's picked up for a second season.
That's so exciting. -Thank you.
-What was it like
going from a writer and actor on "The Office"
to all of a sudden, you're the show?
You're the face of the show, you're the mind behind the show,
you're the heart of the show -- you're the whole thing.
What was that transition like?
-Very enjoyable.
-You liked it? -I liked it.
But the one thing -- and you know me from "The Office" --
-Yes, Mindy, I do.
-My personality on "The Office was very much like,
"Why won't they let me do this? Why won't they let me do that?"
which is, I think, kind of the --
-You were a scrapper. -A scrapper.
-Fighting for what you thought was right
and what direction you thought the show should go
and stuff like that. -Right.
So, when you are scrappy and a fighter
and you're the boss, actually, you could be seen as a tyrant.
I had to sort of mature
and try to become a little bit more of an elegant leader
because I was not that at "The Office."
So I had to try -- Yeah.
-No. Yeah. Sure you were.
-[ Laughs ]
-"Why Is Everyone Hanging Out and I'm Not There?"
I love that book.
-That's an approximation of the title.
-Yeah.
-A loose approximation. -"Everyone's Hanging Out.
Where Am I? How Come You Didn't Call Me?"
-I don't call it "SoulWaffle," okay?
It's hurtful when you say that.
-"Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?"
-Thanks, Rainn. -By Mindy Kaling.
-Up here. -New York Times Best Seller.
-Are you working on a new book? -I am working on a new book.
-What is it about? What are you thinking?
-The past two years, a lot has happened to me, good and bad.
This has been the very highest highs --
getting my own show, running it, with my name on it --
also, you know, losing my mother,
my show being passed on at my network.
You know, a lot of stuff happened.
-Mm-hmm.
-And I, like an unhealthy person,
just sort of suppressed it and decided not to examine it.
So the book is gonna be a lot about me writing about it.
-I'd read that.
-You would? -Yeah.
Are you gonna dis me in your new book
like you did in your old one?
-Rainn, it's very interesting,
because I thought that it went without saying
that our relationship was so loving that --
-People send me tweets all the time, like,
"Wow. Does Mindy hate you? She really hates you."
-And I was like --
I, without being crass, was like,
"Rainn was the one that I was like
a 'Would they or won't they?' I always felt."
You know? -Yeah.
-Leaning on the "Would they?"
-Uh, yeah. -Yeah.
-Hello? -And now we're in a van.
Can we turn these off? Can we turn these --
How do we --
-Cut.
Life's big questions -- lightning round.
-Uh-oh.
-What's one thing that scares you?
-Murderers and rapists. -What?!
Really? Why?
-[ Sighs ]
Not ever understanding art.
I literally don't understand visual art.
-Well, explain that. What do you mean?
-I feel I have friends, as you do, who are like,
"Let's go downtown and go to a gallery."
And I don't understand visual art,
except for what I think decoratively looks great.
-So, you see an abstract work of art
and splashes of paint or something like that,
you're just like, "I don't get it."
-I don't have the connection to it,
and here's the thing -- I'm not proud of it.
I don't have that attitude of like,
"My 7-year-old daughter could do that!"
My attitude is like, "Think of something smart to say.
Didn't you go to a good Ivy League college?
Why can you not articulate anything smart about that?"
That's my feeling. The way that people --
Like, you've taught Walter to ride a bike.
I'm like, "Why did I never learn how to appreciate visual art?"
-What art do you love?
And where do you find beauty?
-I love music because I feel it's maybe --
-And we're not talking about Rihanna now, okay?
-Yes. -Or Beyoncé.
-First of all, why should Rihanna not be considered?
A whole other -- for my van.
That's a conversation for my van.
But --
-You can have your own talk show in your own van
and talk about Rihanna.
-I was listening to some Aaron Copland,
and I was --
-Fancy! -Well, you know.
And I was thinking how moving it was.
-Hmm. -And -- I don't know.
Like, I think it's easier with music for me, I guess,
as an art form 'cause it's -- there's something about it,
the pacing of it or something, that makes me feel it's easier
to get emotionally connected to it.
-This is Rebecca.
-[ Laughs ]
What next?
-Let's do some more life's big questions.
-Hey, Rebecca. -What are some things
that you would want to tell the 13-year-old you?
-I think if I could tell anything to my younger self,
it would be that you don't have to be such a big superstar
when you're younger,
'cause it, like, largely doesn't matter.
It doesn't count towards adult life.
-Right.
-You should be learning the ukulele
and, you know, having fun with your dad and stuff.
You don't need to be doing all this other stuff.
This is what I looked like when I was 5,
and now I have my own television show.
So that's pretty -- that's pretty cool.
I scammed up.
-What's the best decision you ever made?
-The best decision I ever made was, when I was 18,
to just decide to become best friends with my mother.
She's great with guidance. She's really funny.
And just to start confiding with her
and treat her as a friend.
And it was a relationship that she welcomed.
And she was my true best friend till the end of her life,
and it was the best.
-That's beautiful. That's awesome.
-Yeah, I was like, "Should this really smart person
who knows me better than anyone else -- could I, like,
tell them private things that I would a friend?"
-It took me until about a year ago
to become friends with my dad
and just accept him and love him and like him
and just be buds with him.
-It's hard. -I'm 47.
You did it at 18. That's pretty good.
So, on that note, SoulPancakers,
could you be friends with your mom or dad?
And if you could or if you are, tell us how.
Tell us about that relationship with your mom or dad.
I'd love to hear -- and Mindy would, too --
about what that would be like to befriend your parents.
-Becca, could you be friends with your egg?
-[ Clucks ]
Leave a comment or a video below,
video response on that question.
Thank you.
-What?
No!
Rainn.
What? What did she say?
-Stuff that's gone down in this van.
-[ Clears throat ]
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