There's no nice thing you can say to Emma Thompson or Mindy Kaling that they won't immediately deflect, even though they're two people in this world wholly deserving of compliments. The two women star in the upcoming movie Late Night — Kaling as a sparkly-eyed staff writer and Thompson as the show's long-running (and intimidating) host — but decided to flip the script on the normal late show practice of reading mean tweets and read each other compliments from the internet instead.
However, Kaling's wit combined with Thompson's Englishness means the two have trouble accepting compliments, and end up adding their own takes. For instance, when Kaling read Thompson a tweet from someone who said the actress's voice gives them "a will to live," Thompson immediately responded with, "Well, that's a worry."
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"I mean if hearing somebody's voice is the thing that kind of makes you want to get up in the morning, you're not really quite well, I think," she continued (I get what she's saying, but I got too distracted by that voice).
"If you were the voice of my Alexa I would be so happy," Kaling quipped.
Kaling, for the most part, accepted her compliments in similarly bashful stride, but there were also some moments when she wasn't afraid to toot her own horn.
The way people believe in Beyoncé, that’s how I believe in @mindykaling . Continuing slaying Queen ? https://t.co/fPQ3DmKLev
— Tashana Billey (@tbilley) January 25, 2019
"The way people believe in Beyoncé, that's how I believe in @mindykaling," one tweet read. "Continuing slaying queen."
"Yeah, I like that," Kaling replied. "And I think it's accurate."
After a few more of these compliments — plus some technological misunderstandings and some gossiping about co-star Hugh Dancy — Thompson reached her breaking point.
"Could we read some mean ones because I'm finding this very difficult to take," she said, later adding, "Find something horrid."
That, however, would be impossible.
Watch the clip below!