Flula Borg is the rarest of species: A happy-go-lucky Hun. As confusing as the idea of an irrepressible German might be, equally confounding is the successful career Flula’s carved out in American entertainment, based as it is on his work as a “hype man,” loading “dope” tunes to YouTube and cheery chats on Conan—okay, plus acting gigs, whether in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Pitch Perfect 2 or the recent summer blockbuster The Suicide Squad. Herr Borg recently charmed the gang at HUSTLER, generously providing us with photos of his keister and stories of riffing with Larry David, being directed by Mike Judge, taking up Schuhplattler dancing to meet the frauleins (not!) and conquering Hollywood with his willingness to try absolutely anything.
HUSTLER: Is Flula a normal German name?
FLULA BORG: No, nothing about me or the name is normal. My parents are hippies, and I tried to get an origin story from them, but all I got was a strange tale about mushrooms and…some kind of a sunset. It made no sense—it was just chaos!
You wanted to do a photo shoot where you reenacted a couple of HUSTLER’s early covers?
I was really hoping that HUSTLER would go for this idea. It was hilarious to me, just really funny.
Why was it so important for you to show America your ass?