Mindy Kaling talks Halloween costumes, ‘New Girl’ crossovers, and more

Mindy Kaling's character on "The Mindy Project" always seems to be searching for something -- whether it's the dream boyfriend or a new nurse at her OB/GYN practice. So it's fitting that tonight's Halloween-themed episode has the heroine on the hunt for … the perfect costume.

Discussing the show during a conference call last week, Kaling promised "five or six costume changes" in Tuesday's episode. "The premise is that I'm going on a Halloween date with the character Josh, who we met in the last episode," says the 33-year-old actress. "The Halloween costume is stressing my character out a lot, which that is very true of me, myself. I don't have a Halloween costume, and it's already starting to make me panic a little bit. But there are some pretty awful and some pretty hilarious costumes that you get to see during the show. I look crazy in a lot of them too; by the way, they're not sexy hot-girl costumes. They're pretty funny."

Kaling also teased the return of Bill Hader in this episode. He made a memorable appearance in the premiere, playing an ex-boyfriend who tied the knot, causing Kaling's character to have a meltdown … at his wedding. "Bill Hader comes back, and there's just a lot of really funny fun stuff," she says. "I love holiday episodes, so we really made it special. I think you'll like it."

The actress also talked about a potential crossover with her character and Zooey Deschanel's Jess on Fox's "New Girl" and imagined what it would be like if the two characters met. "I love the 'New Girl' and … the characters on that show," Kaling says. "I wonder if Jess's character and mine are so different -- they're both full of life. I wonder what they would bond about. Maybe they would both run into each other at a romantic comedy at a movie [theater]. She is not as obsessed with love and dating as my character is. My character really puts all that stuff on a pedestal, and I think Jess is not as much that way."

Kaling also weighed in on the recent news that fellow funny ladies Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will be hosting the Golden Globes in January. "It's so exciting. I can't wait to watch," Kaling says. "I watch the Globes anyway because you get to see glamorous movie stars, and to know it will be legitimately funny in between. Even when I watch the Globes, I just kind of want to see cuts of Salma Hayek and cutting to or whatever, so now I'm ready for actual comedy in between the awards."

"The Mindy Project" airs Tuesdays at 9:30 PM on Fox.