Mindy Kaling Reveals 2 Hidden B.J. Novak 'Easter Eggs' in “Not Suitable for Work ”(Exclusive)

Julia MooreTue, June 16, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC

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Mindy Kaling; B.J. NovakCredit: TheStewartofNY/WireImage; John Nacion/Getty -

Mindy Kaling included a few cheeky references to her longtime friend B.J. Novak in the newest episode of Not Suitable for Work

"This is really me just being inspired by Taylor Swift and her Easter eggs," Kaling tells PEOPLE

She says Novak was "a very good sport" about the references

Mindy Kaling just pulled a Taylor Swift.

In her newest comedy series, Not Suitable for Work, Kaling included what she describes as "two Easter eggs" related to her longtime friend B.J. Novak.

During episode 6, which premiered on Hulu on Tuesday, June 16, Abby (Avantika Vandanapu) meets Austin (Harry Richardson) at The Mulberry, a New York City bar where Novak is a co-owner. Novak comes up in conversation explicitly when the model Austin is with declares that she's going to "go see if B.J. Novak has any more shroom chocolate."

"This is really me just being inspired by Taylor Swift and her Easter eggs," Kaling tells PEOPLE of the nod to her friend in the episode. "So the reference in itself is an Easter egg, because so many of the people who work on the show love B.J. and are friends with him. But the bar that they're in is actually a bar that B.J. owns."

"We needed a location that was like a cool, downtown bar, and we set the show in New York so that we could use all these real locations that people who live in New York City will be like, 'Oh, this is cool that they use this location,'" Kaling explains.

"I've been to [The Mulberry], it's such a cool place to get drinks. So we asked him if we could use it, and he called the other owners and the manager and made it happen," she says. "So there's like two little Easter eggs for him in that scene."

Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak on Sept. 7, 2025Credit: John Nacion/Getty

Novak, 46, was "a very good sport about it," Kaling adds of her longtime friend, whom she met in 2004 while working on The Office.

The pair started dating that same year and were together on-and-off through 2007, and Novak has since described their relationship as a "tumultuous, romantic, toxic, boundary-less mess."

"We were in love with each other, and we were reckless idiots, and the two of us would argue about all of these things forever — grinding the writers' room into a halt until we got too upset, and we'd go to our respective offices and slam the door, where we would continue arguing over AOL and Instant Messenger," he said at the 2023 Producers Guild Awards.

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Kaling and Novak are both keenly aware of how confusing their continued friendship looks to other people. "He really is in our family, and I love talking about him because my kids adore him, and he's such a huge part of our life," Kaling told Bustle last month. "But I also know that it gives people a lot of ideas. If I was watching it from the outside, I would have the same questions and the same reactions," she admitted.

Novak is also godfather to all three of Kaling's children: Kit, 8, Spencer, 5, and Anne, 2.

Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak on Jan. 6, 2026Credit: Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty

Romance is totally off the cards for them now, though. "He's really part of our family, but we've known each other for a long, long time," Kaling said on The Drew Barrymore Show in 2022. "I think anyone who's been friends with someone for 18, 19 years and at one point dated and now doesn't, they maybe understand this. You have exes that you wouldn't necessarily marry now."

She instead described him as a "wonderful friend" and said her kids are "so attached to him."

The complicated dynamics of friendship and romance are exactly what Kaling explores in Not Suitable for Work, which she tells PEOPLE is "my third show that I've done about my youth."

"Never Have I Ever is about my teenage years. The Sex Lives of College Girls was [about] my college [experience], and then this is about my 20s," she says.

The series follows five 20-somethings (Ella Hunt, Nicholas Duvernay, Will Angus, Avantika Vandanapu and Jack Martin) living in the Murray Hill neighborhood of New York City as they strive to succeed romantically and professionally in post-grad life.

New episodes of Not Suitable for Work drop Tuesdays on Hulu.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”