If Jeff Goldblum didn’t cut it as an actor, he planned to pursue his other talent: jazz piano. You know Tom Wolfe as a best-selling author, but he was once a star baseball player who tried out as a pitcher for the New York Giants (before they left for San Francisco). While he’s more famous for his HOPE posters for the Obama campaign, Shepard Fairey also DJs. And before she was an Oscar award-winning screenwriter, Diablo Cody was a stripper. She even wrote a book about the experience.
Our point? Sometimes the people who we know for one thing have a hidden talent that we never could have guessed. That’s the premise behind HBO’s new Sunday night comedy Hung, which debuted to huge numbers earlier this month. The idea behind the show is rather unique: Ray Drecker, a former high-school sports legend, is now a middle-aged high-school basketball coach. He’s divorced, struggling to support his kids, and virtually homeless after his house catches fire. That’s when he decides to take on a second job — as a gigolo.
To help get the word out about the new series — which was created by Dmitry Lipkin (The Riches), is executive produced by Alexander Payne (Sideways), and stars Thomas Jane, Jane Adams, and Anne Heche — HBO is giving Flavorpill readers a chance to win a box set* of one of their other acclaimed series. To enter, leave us a comment here detailing your own hidden talent. We’ll pick our favorites on July 22 and post the winners here!
* Our first-prize winner will take home The Sopranos: The Complete Series. Three runners-up will score a box set of Sex and the City, The Wire, or Deadwood.