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Mindy Kaling wants her crush, Willie Geist, as love interest on 'Mindy Project'

Willie Geist is needed on set! The set of "The Mindy Project," that is. As show creator and star Mindy Kaling gears up for the third season of her hit sitcom, she's dreaming of creating guest roles for some of her biggest celebrity crushes. And the TODAY anchor is at the top of her wish list."I love him," Kaling gushed to Matt Lauer on Friday. The star even wore a bold dress specially chosen to ca

Willie Geist is needed on set! The set of "The Mindy Project," that is. As show creator and star Mindy Kaling gears up for the third season of her hit sitcom, she's dreaming of creating guest roles for some of her biggest celebrity crushes. And the TODAY anchor is at the top of her wish list.

"I love him," Kaling gushed to Matt Lauer on Friday. The star even wore a bold dress specially chosen to catch the eye of her crush. Earlier in the morning, she posted a photo her ensemble to Instagram and wrote, "Hope Willie likes it!"

The feeling is mutual — to a point.

"I love Mindy Kaling," Willie said later in the show. But he was quick to add, "I love my wife a lot more."

Sounds like Kaling's character will have a man to keep her busy, anyway. This season, Mindy and Danny (Chris Messina) will try to make their relationship work despite opposition from his mom (Rhea Perlman). "She hates my character," Kaling said. "That's a conflict that's really funny on the show."

It's hard to imagine anyone hating Kaling in real life. The star is so close with her writing staff, she recently asked her Twitter followers for help in finding a temporary communal apartment in New York so the group could bunk together during a promotional push.

"I wanted a place for us all to stay together, like 'The Real World,'" Kaling explained to Matt. "You and all the other hosts all live together in a house, don't you?"

"Absolutely," Matt laughed. "The TODAY Show frat house."

That prompted Savannah Guthrie, watching the show from home, to tweet a stern reminder to Matt:

Yes,+@mindykaling,+we+do+all+live+together+in+@TODAYshow+house.+please+tell+@mlauer+to+take+out+the+trash.+It's+his+turn.

—+Savannah+Guthrie+(@SavannahGuthrie)+September+12,+2014+

It seems Matt just wants everyone to get along. "I won't take offense to the fact you want to date Willie Geist and not me," he told Kaling.

"Too many women are into you," she scoffed.

"The Mindy Project" returns to FOX Sept. 16.

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