Steve Carell of The Office celebrates Diwali with a takeoff on the Adam Sandler Hannukah song. AFAIK, this is the first major Diwali-themed show broadcast in America, just as The Namesake next year will be the first mainstream film about the desi American experience.

The story was inspired by an actual Diwali fête thrown last year by the writing staff of [My Name is Earl] and The Office. “Mindy [Kaling] pitched having an episode based on that party,” says [Vali] Chandrasekaran [writer for My Name is Earl]. “Because everyone had been there, it got some traction and they got to do it.” [Link]

Here’s the entire episode:

I‘d have guessed this episode came from Mindy Kaling working with Carell in The Forty-Year-Old Virgin, but it turns out she was hired for The Office the year before the movie came out:

Kaling [born Vera Chokalingam] … [attended] Dartmouth College. While in college, Kaling was a member of the improvisational comedy troupe “The Dog Day Players,” a skit writer for the a cappella group “The Rockapellas” and creator of the comic strip in The Dartmouth college newspaper titled “Badly Drawn Girl,” written under the name “Mindy Chokalingam.” In 2000, she portrayed Ben Affleck in a play entitled “Matt & Ben”. She graduated from Dartmouth in 2001.

In late 2004, she was hired as a writer and performer for the upcoming American version of The Office. Originally, producer Greg Daniels wasn’t sure where to use her on screen in the series until the point came in the script for the episode “Diversity Day” when Steve Carell’s insensitive character Michael Scott needed to be slapped by a minority. “Since then, I’ve been on the show…” [Link]

Kaling’s gotten plenty of work in her short career:

Only a few years ago, Kaling was most recognizable for portraying, of all people, Ben Affleck, in a play entitled “Matt and Ben” that she co-wrote… [and] a stint as a guest writer for one of television’s most enduring comedy institutions, “Saturday Night Live…”

Kaling credits two industry insiders for her role in the film: Allison Jones, the casting director for both “The Office” and “40-Year-Old Virgin,” and Steve Carell… “[Jones] has this awesome sensibility for offbeat casting and I kind of got all these cool parts because she’s the casting director on them,” Kaling said. “Steve kind of recommended me to Judd [Apatow, the writer and director of the film].”

Kaling has also appeared on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” in the episode “Lewis Needs a Kidney.” The episode, from the show’s most recent season, features Kaling as Richard Lewis’ assistant who, not surprisingly, has a confrontation with Larry David, the show’s abrasive main character. [Link]

She talks about her comic strip in college:

Badly Drawn Girl was my attempt to get the fleeting attention of about five older guys on campus who would never have even known I existed had I not immortalized them in the D. Most of them were gay. [Link]

And punching out her co-star in Matt and Ben:

Brenda had been really pissing me off before a show, jonesin’ for my man and talking trash she couldn’t back up, nah mean? It was the show Bruce Weber from the Times was reviewing, so I thought, I’m gonna sock this bitch back to the stone-age. And then it happened! [Link]

Kaling is in a Christmas comedy coming out Dec. 8, Unaccompanied Minors, with Lewis Black, Rob Corddry and Wilmer Valderrama. The Daily Show mafia is taking over. Watch the trailer:

She’ll also be in License to Wed with Robin Williams, due out next year.

Kaling had her own wardrobe malfunction on the Emmies this year.

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