Mindy Kaling was only 26 when she was hired as one of the only diverse and female writers on The Office at the time. That series aired for quite some time and we got to see Kaling progress as both a writer and an actress before going on to star in her own series The Mindy Project, as well as produce a slew of productions including Netflix’s popular Never Have I Ever. Of course, it takes time to build such a prolific resume, and recently Kaling shared a funny take on how she's aging these days. Even better, other comedian Steve Martin responded back.
I think many of us can “relate” to posts, whether heartfelt or joke-filled or both, about aging. Whether Boomers, Millennials or Gen Z Internet users, time passes quickly and celebrities certainly recognize this at varying points in their careers. In a post, Mindy Kaling shared a quick meme about one of the major Internet things that crop up as we get older, but I'm guessing she probably wasn’t expecting Steve Martin’s totally relatable Twitter response back about being born in 1945...
Me old (via @MyThrpstSays) pic.twitter.com/GR31LbVan1March 2, 2022
While some people reading this may be right there with Steve Martin in regards to that 1945 birthdate and having to scroll and scroll and scroll in online surveys to hit that date, even if you have a little less “rind” on you, as Westworld puts it, many of us are getting up into years when a lot of scrolling is necessary to find our birth years. The experience is a pretty universal one for adults.
Not to harp on how old Mindy Kaling or Steve Martin are, but both have actually opened up about getting older in recent years. The mom of two (Kaling quietly had a baby during quarantine) told Haute Living after turning 40 that after grinding it out for half her life, she’s looking forward to setting herself up for the next 40 years, noting:
Honestly, the truth is I would like to live for another 40 years; I was thinking about that yesterday. The first 40 years—especially the last 15—has been just me trying to grind professionally to be successful. To be a mom is so exciting, and re-shifting my focus so that I can live for another 40 years is my priority now.
Steve Martin at 76 has also had aging on the brain recently, particularly since he and Martin Short began starring opposite 29-year-old actress Selena Gomez in Hulu’s surprise hit Only Murders in the Building. That was a project that had originally been earmarked for three older people before Gomez was added to complete the trio and Martin and Short’s age was what sealed the deal. Steve Martin previously told Today age was a major factor in the decision to join the streaming show.
One day I’m telling Marty the idea and he’s like, ‘You know what? We’re old,” so that’s how we decided, well maybe we can do this thing.
To me, the most viral moment regarding Martin’s celebrity aging came last year when director Nancy Meyer actually shared the hot fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was, in 2021, the same age Steve Martin was in Father of the Bride, which just so happens to be one of Martin's best movies, but one he does not look particularly young in. You can’t make these things up.
While age is just a number, scrolling to your birth year on the internet is a fairly universal experience. And yet, it’s one I probably would not wish on anyone, like having to go to the DMV or having to call your mortgage company. Unlike those infrequent one-offs though, every year scrolling to your birth date online just gets worse and worse.
