[RELAXED MUSIC]

[ETHEREAL RUMBLING]

[ROARS]

- What, you've never seen a brother

come out of an interdimensional wormhole before?

Time is merely a concept, a state of mind.

And it's time.

Time to get Black, y'all.

Greetings, salutations, and Obama-style fist bumps.

Is your guy, Craig Robinson, reporting

live from my Cabin of Solitude.

I decided to set up shop here while the world chills out.

I had to get off the grid for a while.

But when the boy, Brandon Drew Jordan Pierce,

called and asked me to pilot this hypothetical twin engine

jumbo jet of epic Black excellence,

I gladly welcomed the opportunity and the cameras

into my world.

Now, this season, we've got connections mapped out all

across this Black planet.

Speaking of Black planet, if anyone

knows how to get my old Black Planet profile taken down,

I still can't seem to get it deleted.

It's time to put username CraigRobIsASnobWithAProb2345

to rest.

You know what I'm saying?

Back to the show.

[ENGINE WINDS UP]

This season, we'll be traveling from Houston to Brooklyn,

Africa to Japan, and telling stories of all types of places,

spaces, and Black folks that are changing

perceptions of Black potential and accomplishment

on a daily basis.

Oh, and it turns out, for this episode,

the ladies do run this mother, because we're

starting this season off with an all-female roster today.

So let's sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

[ENGINE WINDS DOWN] Ay, LEON.

[ELECTRONIC BEEPS]

Play something I can get my read on to.

ALEON: Uh, before we even get to that,

you gotta set up the first segment, dawg.

- Thanks, ALEON.

My personal Black smart home device.

This cabin life got me off my game for a second.

[ELECTRONIC BEEPS]

ALEON: Happens to the best of us, Brother Craig.

- The great orator, Lavell William Crump,

famously known as David Banner, once said,

"Stuntin' is a habit.

Get like me."

Well, our first guest takes that quite literally.

As a rarity in Hollywood, Black female

stuntwomen Jazzy Ellis is cementing

herself as a go-to artist.

Not just because she's Black or female,

but because she's real, real, real, real, real, real,

real good at what she does.

Her IMDb actually gave me whiplash when I read it.

She's worked on "The Suicide Squad," "Lovecraft Country,"

"The Walking Dead," "Avengers - Infinity War," "Bad Boys

for Life," and my personal favorite, "Hot Tub Time Machine

2," which I hear is strongly being considered

for the Criterion Collection.

But with all that said, let's let her stunt.

Your attention, please.

Meet Jazzy Ellis.

VOICE OVER MEGAPHONE: Your attention, please.

JAZZY ELLIS: I have been a warrior, a zombie, a witch,

a mercenary, an evil nun, a special ops soldier,

and I was once tackled by Jason Statham.

I'm Jazzy Ellis, and I'm a professional stunt actor.

There are not enough women and people of color doing stunts.

So if you want to do it, do it.

I'll help.

I'll tell you what it takes.

But first, stunting is dangerous.

Don't try this at home.

Talk to your doctor if stunting is right for you, yada, yada,

yada.

There's no one way to be a stuntperson.

The best I can do is tell you the path I took

and tell you to make it your own.

So let's see.

Step one, you have to break it to your parents

that you're not going to be a doctor.

I know now that I made the right choice.

And, to their credit, my parents are my biggest supporters.

Actually, before you dash your loved ones hopes for you,

make sure you can move.

If you're going to be the person being thrown through a door,

you have to know how to make it look painful when it isn't.

I mean, usually it isn't.

Anyway, I started taking ballet when I was three.

If you're not three, that's OK.

It's never too late to start.

I also did jazz dancing, gymnastics, and break dancing.

So you've got options.

I was actually really shy as a kid,

and dancing helped me learn to love performing as

long as I was part of a group.

And that's tip number three.

Get yourself a squad.

This is not optional.

I would not be where I am today without the many people who

supported me.

People like my mentor, Angela Meryl.

I would literally call her once a week.

She always got back to me when I needed

advice from an experienced Black woman in the industry.

Did you know it used to be standard practice

to put men in wigs to be stunt doubles for women?

Or that white stunt performers would

be painted down, basically put in Blackface--

do not draw that--

to double for actors of color?

The excuse was always that producers

and directors couldn't find women or people of color.

I've worked really hard so that they

don't have that excuse anymore.

Five years ago, there were probably

five Black stuntwomen in Atlanta,

which is a major film location.

But now there's about 50, because now there's a need.

And there's a need because we've proven ourselves.

And I'm proud to be part of that.

I was a high school math and special education

teacher in New Orleans.

I loved the creativity and energy of New Orleans,

but I wasn't a part of it.

So I started doing martial arts.

I met some stunt performers in my martial arts class,

and one of them, my dear friend John Bernacker, said,

you could be a stunt performer.

There are no Black stuntwomen here.

You could be the Black stuntwoman in Louisiana.

I was like, what?

From my very first training with John,

he wanted me to understand what it really felt

like to be a pro stuntperson.

Remember how I said stunting is dangerous?

It takes training with professionals to do it safely.

John made sure I was learning how to properly falling

into a flat back and a taco.

Well, some people call it tiger.

I guess you kind of start off like a tiger,

and then end up like a taco.

Oh, yeah.

Get ready to learn a new language.

When a stunt coordinator says, make sure you have your jerk

vest, I know it'll be a fun day, because that

means a day of flying.

Maybe even explosive.

Yes.

I specialize in wire work, and for that, I need a jerk vest.

It helped me fly 40 feet across the set of "Godzilla -

King of the Monsters."

It also helped me fall 50 feet for a scene

in "Lovecraft Country."

Oh, I can't name the movie.

It's coming out this year.

But for that one, I got to fall 100 feet from the ceiling.

Flying, explosions, monster lizards.

I guess tip number--

what are we on now?

Five?

Five.

Have a sense of adventure.

Even though this was who I was before I became a stuntperson,

I didn't realize that this was who

I wanted to be until the option was right in front of me.

So I dove in and trained non-stop for three months.

Hold up.

It takes more than three months to learn to be a stuntperson.

I was already an expert in movement and defying gravity.

I networked a lot and had the whole right place, right time

thing working for me.

On that note, stay ready so you can

say yes to the right opportunities

when they come your way.

As a stunt performer, you're an athlete and an artist.

Take care of your most important tool of the trade--

yourself.

People say YOLO.

I say YOGO--

You Only Get One.

You only get one body, so treat it with care.

My goal is to be an action star someday.

Pam Grier started it, but there still aren't

enough women doing it today.

And I'm pretty sure it's not for lack of trying.

There are a lot of cool female characters

waiting to come to life.

I'm ready to be like the female Luke Cage.

A badass Black woman who saves her community.

So if you're ready to be like Jazzy Ellis,

find something to be your thing.

Do you ride horses?

Are you an amazing grappler?

Are you, like, a parkour champion?

Find a thing you can do, and do it well.

Be ready to fall, over and over.

Literally.

You'll have to do, like, 28 takes in one day.

Believe in yourself.

And if someone asks if Jason Statham can tackle you,

say yes.

VOICE OVER MEGAPHONE: Your attention, please.

[CARS HONKING]

- How'd they find me out here?

I thought I was in the cut.

I'm not entirely sure Jazzy has right name, y'all.

Because she is clearly a rock star.

And not like waiting room at the dentist's

office soft sleepy rock.

I'm talking heavy metal, sold out arena rock.

Jazzy, I'll see you on set.

[TRUCK HONKS]

[TIRES SCREECHING]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

Oh yeah, Craig.

Nobody knows where that cabin is.

[GROWLS] It's a cabin, they said.

No one will find me, they said.

Well, they did find me.

[NERVOUS BREATHING] I gotta go get this WAP.

Warm-Ass Pastry.

[PANTING]

Whew.

Traffic was crazy.

I never should've left the cabin.

But I needed these pastries.

[SIGHS]

OK, let me break down a hypothetical here.

Let's say there was a secret lab, and in that lab

there was a human hybridization chamber.

Now, into that chamber walks a cop, a quarterback,

and a national champion.

A scientist at the lab presses a button, and lots of stuff

happens, all right?

The scientist opens the door, and out walks our next subject,

Jennifer King, who just so happens

to have been a cop, a quarterback,

and a national champion, and is now

the first African-American woman to be a full-time NFL

assistant coach as part of the Washington football team staff.

There's nothing left to do now but sit back, relax,

and hut, hut, hike!

Your attention, please.

Meet Jennifer King.

VOICE OVER MEGAPHONE: Your attention, please.

[BASSY MUSIC]

JENNIFER KING: I think football kind of touches all my senses.

I have a routine I like to do.

I like to smell the ball before the game, you know?

I like to have it in my hands and smell the leather.

It's just some I've always done from when I was playing.

I still do it as a coach, as well.