SXSW: Mindy Kaling Takes Twitter Challenge During Comedy Panel

Mindy Kaling proved her Twitter chops during a one-on-one conversation with Marie Claire‘s Anne Fulenwider at South by Southwest Sunday morning.

Fulenwider challenged Kaling — creator and star of Fox’s The Mindy Project — to send a tweet in under 45 seconds. Kaling, who has 2.8 million followers on Twitter, tweeted from Fulenwider’s Twitter account in a speedy 17 seconds. Her tweet: “Miami? Austin? Antarctica? Where am I? #sxsw”

The tweet was a reference to Kaling’s wardrobe: matching red trousers and a sleeveless blouse. When she first appeared onstage, she commented that she wasn’t prepared for a cold, rainy Austin. “I dressed for the Austin I thought it would be,” she said. “It’s Antarctica here. I’m mad.”

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Kaling got lots of laughs while she spoke with Fulenwider about the creation of The Mindy Project. The laughs were turned up a notch when Kaling was joined on stage by Mindy Project co-stars Ike Barinholtz and Adam Pally.

Barinholtz showed off his impersonation skills with his take on Kaling, Pally and Mindy Project guest star James Franco. When asked how Kaling is as a boss, he joked, “She’s much like Kim Jong-un. She rules with an iron fist. Sometimes in that fist is a rose.”

The audience cheered when Fulenwider announced that the series had been picked up for a third season on Fox. During the audience question portion of the talk, Kaling addressed the series’ mid-season finale and the potential budding relationship between characters Mindy Lahiri and Danny Castellano (Chris Messina).

“I think that weirdly enough the timing of the cliffhanger was helpful because the excitement has gotten bigger.”

Kaling also touched on the challenge of having her own show, especially as an Indian-American woman.

“It’s challenging to get your own show no matter what,” she said. “One of the things that’s been helpful to me is that I try not to think that much about the fact that I’m Indian-American. I’ve felt that constantly people assume I’m not funny. People will think that you’re not funny because of the way that you look.”

Season two of The Mindy Project returns on April 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.