Hank Strong: Bodybuilder, firefighter, enforcer, leatherman, gay daddy

The Brooklyn-born Hank Strong (Henry Akinsaya) graduated from Xaverian Brothers High School in Westfield, Massachustts in 1998, then studied pre-law at NYU.  

He competed in some amateur bodybuilding competitions, worked as a bodyguard, and did some modeling where he had to show his abs.  

His acting career began in 2018, when he was cast as Lunkhead, enforcer for the villain Zachary Trumble. in an episode of Gotham (2018).   

Hank moved on to play more enforcers, bodybuilders, and scowling musclemen, notably, the fighter Iron Long on Ray Donovan.

 

He appeared in two episodes of Godfather of Harlem as Big Dick Buster. Crime lord Bumpy Johnson, a real figure from the 1960s, keeps "Big Dick" on retainer to rape men who rape black women.

 

As a firefighter in The King of Staten Island, he takes his clothes off, of course, to bond with Pete Davidson.

In 2020, Hank played Jericho, a member of Kelvin's God Squad in Righteous Gemstones Season 2. When they threaten Keefe, he defends himself by swatting Jericho's nipple.  (Actually a courageous act, since Jericho is nearly a foot taller and 100 pounds heavier than Keefe).

More Hank after the break

"Difficult People": Billy pretends to be straight, Julie pretends to be Italian, and the guest star's son takes his shirt off

 

Yesterday on the treadmill, I watched Difficult People, a two season sitcom about two jerks, the Jewish Julie and the gay Billy (Julie Klausner, Billy Eichner. below). I've had a file of photos for a long time, so why not write a review?

Julie and Billy are trying to break into stand-up comedy as a pair. We only see snippets of their act, but it seems to involve insulting people.  Plots often involve pop-culture name dropping or the pairs' crazy relatives.  Among the famous guest stars are Amy Sedaris, Lucy Liu, Tina Fey, Mark Consuelos, and Kathy Lee Gifford.

Rounding out the cast are James Urbaniak as Julie's business suit-wearing husband, who works for PBS; Andrea Martin as her yenta mother; and Cole Escola, left, as the swishy queen who works with Billy at his coffee shop gig. 

This episode, "Italian Piñata," begins with the pair walking past the Stonewall Tavern, where the Gay Rights Movement began: queens upset over the death of Judy Garland weren't going to take the police harassment anymore, and fought back.  The Judy Garland angle has been completely discredited.  These were young adults in the 60s. They were into the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, not some singer from their grandparents' generation.

Billy notes that it's National Coming Out Day, when super-hot A-gays who spend the rest of the year snubbing everyone who isn't a Greek god do their public duty by offering to introduce newly-out guys to the culture.  It doesn't even matter if they're ugly or have a horrible personality -- or both, like Billy -- if you're newly out, you're in. 

Julie Turns Italian: On their way to a horrible party that Julie's husband had to plan for his PBS job, in Hoboken, the pair drops into an Italian meat shop, where some ladies like Julie's jokes about "meat in my mouth."  They have big hair, eat everything in sight, carry purses that "fell off a truck," and discuss what they'll do to the penises of boyfriends who betray them.  Julie is in love!  She announces to her mother and husband that she's coming out -- she now identifies as Italian!  The two are horrified.

Mom works as a therapist whose client -- the famous Mink Stole -- has a daughter in a cult.  They discuss deprogramming -- kidnapping the brainwashed girl and yelling at her until she "believes what I want her to believe." Mom thinks this would work on Julie.  

Billy Turns Straight: Meanwhile, Billy and Julie go to a New Jersey gay bar, where he gets the idea of pretending to come out.  He announces that he was straight until today, and Julie is actually his soon-to-be ex-wife.  The gay guys, including bartender Pasha Pelosie, left, all want to welcome him into the gay community.  

More beef after the break

Gavin's Cute/Cool Photos, Part 2: splashing in puddles, diving in Tulum, surfing in Costa Rica. With a naked grown-up bonus

 

This is a collection cute/cool photos of Gavin Munn, who plays Jonathan on Raising Dion and Abraham on The Righteous Gemstones.  He's under 18, so no beefcake or nude photos, but I may have included some of his family and friends.

1. Nice sunset.

2.  Interesting mural at the Charleston airport.

3. Gavin's idea for a rainy day activity: sit in a giant puddle and invite passing cars to splash him.  Then he filmed the splashes.

4. In Tulum Gavin is ten feet underwater.  Hopefully he checked out some Mayan ruins, too.

5. Muscle bud

6. Michael Provost

More magnificent Munn after the break