Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Ultimate Tag’s Jesse La Flair

Jesse La Flair is one of the faces of parkour, a sport he fell in love with because it pushed him to his limits. He’s competed around the world and built an international brand around his athleticism. So it seems only fitting that he’d be one of the pro taggers in Fox’s breakout hit of 2020, Ultimate Tag. Each week, contestants competed against each other in a high-stakes game of tag filled with extreme challenges and obstacles. Pop Culturalist caught up with Jesse to learn more about his passion for parkour and what it was like joining the series.

PC: How did you get started in parkour and in the entertainment industry?
Jesse: I started doing parkour in college. I saw some kids jumping off some walls. I grew up on action sports like rollerblading, skateboarding, BMX, snowboarding—everything you can imagine that allowed you as a human to push the limits of what we’re capable of.

When I saw these guys jumping off walls, I knew I was able to do a backflip off something really high. They were like, “That’s cool, but that’s not what we’re doing. We’re doing parkour. It’s about overcoming obstacles, whether they’re physical or mental.” I went to SUNY New Paltz. It’s kind of a hippie college. I was like, “I’m in. That sounds cool.”

Through that, I started to learn more. Back then, there were videos out on forums, and YouTube started popping off. We started to be able to see other people from around the world doing this thing. After graduating college, I moved to New York City. I ended up booking my first job that I auditioned for, which was a gig for Eastman Kodak Company. They flew me to Rochester, New York, to shoot a commercial on their new film stock that they just put out.

It was a big deal because it was a full production. The cinematographer’s name was Fred Murphy. He shot Secret Window with Johnny Depp and Freddy vs. Jason at the time. I was blown away about being put in this star position on this big project. After that trip, I was sold. I was like, “All right, if I can do this for the rest of my life, that would be incredible.” From there on, it was about weaving entertainment and my skills in the parkour space to continue to find work and do fun things for a living.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Jesse: Good question. From a very early age, I remember saying to my cousin, “I’m going to be a stuntman one day.” But I didn’t think it was realistic. That was like any kid saying, “I’m going to be a fireman.”

So the fact that I ended up here doing these things and working on these blockbuster films and TV shows like Ultimate Tag is a bit mind-blowing. If I had to try to figure out who got me here, I’d probably say my wife.

We started dating when I was fourteen. We grew up on Long Island. There aren’t a lot of people that leave that area. My entire family lived within a ten-mile radius. But she and her family would go to New York and see Broadway shows. As silly as it sounds, living on Long Island, a trip to New York City seemed like going to China. It seemed so far away and unreachable. The second they started taking me to the city for different things is when I was like, “Now I live in the city.”

Now I’ve traveled the world. I’ve hosted two world tours, have tour buses, my own pro signature shoe, and have slept in people’s houses all around the world and competed in China. I’d say that little tiny nugget of reaching outside of what I believed was possible is probably the one thing that helped make everything that was impossible possible to me.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success in your career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
Jesse: There are definitely a few. It’s funny because I feel like so much of my career is spread out. Like if you were to put me on paper, it’s like, “What are you? Who are you? What do you do?” Parkour is the through line for that.

There was a trip that me and one of my teammates made that we actually ended up producing and I directed a documentary around called From Here to There. We documented our first European tour and competing. We ended up winning the biggest competition in our sport. He took first. I took third and won the best trick in the competition.

That journey was a moment of self-discovery. I was like, “Holy shit. This is all possible. You don’t need much money to travel. If you put yourself out there and try, look at all these incredible things you can accomplish.”

PC: You’re currently starring in Ultimate Tag. How did you get involved with this show? How was it initially pitched to you?
Jesse: You know what’s funny? It was almost inevitable that I’d work on it in some way. I’m a partner of a company called Tempest Freerunning. Four of our guys are producers on the show. Everybody is a parkour professional. They brought in some of us from Tempest Freerunning to look at the obstacles and break down the game play to make it safe. One of our team members, Cory DeMeyers, ended up being one of the stunt coordinators on it.

It allows the athletes to remain safe because it’s a highly demanding show, especially when we’re shooting. We didn’t shoot a new episode each week. We shot all of these back to back to back. Some of our pro taggers ran back to back to back. Our physicality and our performance need to excel and be safe.

So besides having teammates and business partners behind the scenes and being one of the main faces of parkour, my name kept coming up. I ended up getting a call from the contestant producers as well. Then I got a call from the pro tagger producers. They both wanted to bring me in. So I had to make a choice. There’s a good chance that I could have performed very well and won the ten thousand dollars or the overall sixty thousand dollars if you were number one for the men’s.

I thought it would be so much more fun to be a pro tagger. I would get to play and feel the excitement of chasing someone and getting to put my parkour skills to the rest. In parkour, you don’t get to really test your skills all that often, unless you’re trying to save someone from a burning building or you’re getting chased by a bobcat. [laughs]

PC: Does that bring any pressure being one of the faces of the sport?
Jesse: Definitely. I’m doing my best to take any opportunity to talk about the sport and build it. That’s what those tours are about. I’ve hosted events—over fifty events—in probably twenty, thirty different countries. I’m doing my best to help spread this because I have a love for it so much. There is definitely an additional pressure to self-appointing myself into that position.

One of the coolest things from the start of the show that I was really excited about was I didn’t want a tagger name. I wanted to make sure it was my last name. I’ve built this brand around it. My shoe is the La Flair pro model shoe. Everything ties back to who I am in the sport.

When I go out there now to compete on Ultimate Tag in front of millions of people weekly, they’re seeing Jesse La Flair as a pro tagger get put to the test. I’m not the Geek, who is also an incredible parkour athlete, but now he can play this character. He’s out there and he can joke around a bit more. He’s portraying a character.

So from the beginning, I was like, “They let me keep my name! That’s awesome.” Then all of a sudden, I watch all these taggers having so much fun playing these characters like the Banshee and I’m like, “That would have been fun too.” But I think it was important for the future of our industry. I’m happy with the pressure that is put on me.

PC: What is your strategy as a pro tagger?
Jesse: The first round is chase tag. It makes sense as a tagger to go for one person. I can tire them out. Eventually I’m going to get them. But if you watch me play chase tag, I always try to get everyone cornered, and that becomes my challenge. Instead of going after the easy prey, it’s like, how can I use my skills to make better television by corralling all of them to one side?

The second course is dodge tag. It’s all three contestants blasting past you. That one is tough. I don’t care if someone runs by me. Once I’ve made a decision, they’re the one I’m going after. That one gets a while.

As a pro, do you have a favorite obstacle? Which is the most challenging?
Jesse: I love dome tag, especially because I’m comfortable with heights. As a stuntman, influencer, and content creator, I’ve done a lot of things with heights. I’m very comfortable. I’m also very confident on rails and things. So when I get off the ladder, which is the way we enter the course, I’m always hoping people stay on the outside of the dome. [laughs] I can literally run down the rails like they’re stairs.

I don’t think most contestants are comfortable with that though. No one is in a harness. We are high up. As much as that mat looks soft that we’re landing on, it’s an airbag. If you put your arm back, it’s going to snap in half. There are real consequences that could come from falling off that dome.

I think that one is fun because of how extreme it is. I’m hoping that if we get a Season 2, which is looking good with the amount of viewership that we have, that we do a little bit more extreme courses like that. But we’ll see.

To keep up with Jesse, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Catch new episodes of Ultimate Tag every Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox.