Flula Borg on The Punies, The Suicide Squad, and Being a Comic Fan

Whether you know him as an actor, comedian, musician, or DJ, you’ve probably experienced the one-of-a-kind talent that is Flula Borg. The German multi-hyphenate has gained a fan-following in recent years, in the worlds of film, television, music, and even viral videos. To an extent, Borg’s filmography is just as eccentric and unpredictable as he is, ranging from live-action appearances In Pitch Perfect 2, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Counterpart to voiceover roles in Archer, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Tangled: The Series. He also has made multiple appearances on Conan, and even opened for Conan O’Brien on his 18-city comedy tour last year.

Currently, Borg is part of the cast of The Punies, a family-friendly scripted podcast that is created and directed by basketball legend Kobe Bryant. The sports-themed stories follow a group of friends called “The Punies”, who learn important lessons through the various sports that they play. Borg is also set to be among the star-studded ensemble of The Suicide Squad, James Gunn’s follow-up to the 2016 DC film.

We recently had the chance to speak with Borg about his role in The Punies, just in time for the podcast’s recently-released Season 2 finale. In the process, we chatted about the unique trajectory of his career, what comics he’s reading as research for The Suicide Squad, what nerdy interests he’s developed over the years, and the specific way that he wants to cameo in a John Wick movie.

Origin Story

ComicBook.com: How did you get started in the entertainment industry? What was your trajectory to get into show business?

Flula Borg: Yeah, it was a little bit of an unintentional accident. As a child, I was a schuhplattler, which is, in Germany, we have kids who are like slapping the knees and the hands while they wear lederhosen and terrible music is being played. And I would do this very many times. And then we had the DJ who was helping us with the music, and I spoke to him between during our breaks and he taught me a little bit about DJing, and then he taught me about hype men, like a man that hypes rapper crowds in his hip hop shows.

And so I entered a hype man contest in Chicago just for fun. And then I won this contest, which was very confusing because I should not have won that. Then I just said “Well why not let us enter entertainment and then comedy? Who knows?” I don’t understand why I’m in it but I’m very happy that people are advising me to [do] things… I’m just happy to have some snacks.

You’ve appeared in so many different movies and TV shows, but do you have a favorite thing that you’ve been a part of?

It’s very difficult. It’s like if you had like 25 children that you have to say which ones you know have to be punished and which ones receive a donut. It’s hard for me to pick. I can tell you right now, I’m very excited about voice-over because, currently, I cannot decide what proper pants I should wear outside. And when I go and do voice-over, it doesn’t matter what your pants look like. So this is very exciting, and helps me make decisions better in my life.

The Punies

That feels like a perfect transition into The Punies podcast. I think it’s a really adorable concept for a show, and I was really happy to find out that you’re a part of it. I was hoping you could kind of tease what your role in it is?

Yeah, so The Punies podcast, it’s a children’s show with a sports theme. It was written by Kobe Bryant and created and directed by him. So it follows this gang of kids, and I play the referee who is slightly rude, but mainly just because I wish I could be part of the group. So because I’m not part of the group, I just blow my whistle and scream ‘foul’ a lot.

What has it been like working alongside Kobe? I’ve seen your posts on Instagram and some of the videos that you guys have done together and it seems like your dynamic is really fun.

He is so fun. If you do not know him, I imagine [you’d think] “Oh, he’s the black mamba. He’s a dangerous, dangerous snake, you know, an animal who couldn’t, blah blah blah.” Perhaps this is only true when he’s holding a basketball. He was not holding a basketball, and so he was super friendly and very fun and it was very great to work with him. I’m confused by this because he’s like the friendliest dude.

Do you have any funny stories from the time that you spent together, either working on The Punies or outside of it?

I did not know he would enjoy these things — I sang a song about baseball and techno, and it was a confusing song because I don’t understand baseball and I barely understand techno. When I was looking through the recording booth window, I could see Kobe was doing a tiny dance, and so I thought this is a good sign.

Conan

I was also wondering if you have any funny stories or anything you’d like to say about your relationship with Conan. I know you guys have collaborated a lot over the years.

I’ve been sending a courier to Conan’s house to sign the adoption papers. He has not responded to any of my queries, so I’m very much hoping the process happens and I can get my U.S. passport and my “O’Brien” last name driver license. But in the meantime, I’m just very excited to bake German Christmas goodies for him and deliver them to his house every Monday. They are in a large pile. He will not eat them, but I will not stop. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

The Suicide Squad

I just wanted to say congratulations on your role in The Suicide Squad. I know that you can’t talk about it much yet, but I have heard through the grapevine that you’re a bit of a comic book fan. So I was curious about what your history with comics is.

Oh man. Yeah, so as a child, my father loved Spider-Man very much, and so my first introduction to all of the comics was Spider-Man. And then from there, it was like a web. I kind of jumped to all kinds of things, both Marvel and DC and even strange things like Valiant with Harbinger, and Image when it came out, and Dark Horse. So I kind of jumped all over the maps. But for me personally, it was the Todd McFarlane era of Spider-Man comics, that really was something that I, I just loved. It’s a combination of dope storytelling, and his illustration skills are just so insane.

Are there any titles that you’re reading currently? Is there anything that you’re diving into now?

Now, for reasons that are probably obvious, I’m exploring DC in a much deeper way. I think I started it just because, as I said, my father’s love of Spider-Man really got me into Marvel, and I knew a little bit of DC and followed several of the main people. But now I’m doing a deep dive with a tasty yummy shovel, and just trying to find and uncover cool little nuggets.

Fandoms

Outside of comics, what are you a fan of?

I have some very strange knowledge of a few subjects for some reason. I love basketball very much. I think it just because one of the best players of all time, is a German man named Dirk Nowitzki.

Oh man! I’m originally from Dallas, so I’m definitely familiar with Dirk and how amazing he is.

Oh, he is so great and I loved him. First of all, he’s just a really good dude and nice. Like Kobe, he’s one of the few players to play for I think 20 years with only one team, he’s like a loyal dude. And he played just about one hour from my house as a child. And I had a memory as a child when I was playing a little bit of horse, and he blocked my shot terribly because I was on his hoop. I didn’t know he was practicing, so he blocked my shot terribly. And this was one of the greatest moments of my life.

Outside of basketball, what else are your nerdy interests?

I got into coin collecting for some weird reason. Like I would dive into like a wheat penny, and as random as Susan B. Anthony dollars in America. And then in Germany, we had massive inflation many years ago, so there are like $60 million on $50 million Deutschmark. And then I would like to collect these very weird bills and notes and stuff that I really enjoy.

I’m super nerdy. And then for some reason, also comic cards. It was something called “Marvel Masterpieces”, which came out many, many years ago. And so I collected the first version of all of those because they were almost like hand-painted. They were so beautiful.

Dream Franchise

You’ve been in a lot of awesome franchises over the years, but is there a certain one that you are still dreaming to be a part of?

Oh man, yes. There are five, but I will only name a few. Number one that needs to be a Die Hard reboot where I play Hans Gruber. So I need to be in the new Die Hard, whenever this happens. I need to play Hans Gruber in this, for sure. I also absolutely need to be in a Star Wars film of some kind. I just think it seems inevitable that this must happen. I also need to be a bad guy that John Wick shoots in the genitalia, so that also needs to happen. And Fast and the Furious. There needs to be a German. We are all about automobiles. Why aren’t there no Germans in the franchise? We are the car people!

That’s such a good point. I was already thinking that you would be perfect in a Star Wars movie, so I’m so glad that you said that.

Oh, I would love it. R2-Deutsche-2 would be so great.

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Both seasons of The Punies are available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.