By Dylan Deprey
JayDay Hilarious Jones, Brandon Jones and Kennaye Sherice Lewis hang on for dear life on the new season of the Netflix series “Floor is Lava.” (Photo courtesy Netflix)
Before JayDay Hilarious Jones was getting millions of views on Tik Tok, he was performing for his family.
As the youngest, he took on the entertainer role. When it came to visiting grandma’s house, he kept everybody laughing.
“If it was a barbecue or family get-together, they’d always have me come down and do my little dance moves,” Jones said.
It wasn’t any different when he went to school, as he took on the role of class clown. The only difference was that his straight A’s kept the teachers from sending him to the office.
“It got to the point where the teacher would be like, if you get all your work done and participate in class, I’ll give you the last 5 minutes to do your jokes,” he said.
His online comedian gig started in 2013, and had been growing ever since. From skits to dances, he kept Milwaukee laughing any chance he could get.
It wasn’t until the West coast legend, Snoop Dogg shared his video in early 2021, when he went viral.
“I remember the days when I’d get 5 likes and 20 views,” Jones said. “When he posted that video, everything changed.”
Following his social media success, he continued to grow his brand and took a shot on an audition for an “escape room type” game show in Los Angeles.
He asked his siblings, Brandon Jones and Kennaye Sherice Lewis to jump on board. They sent their applications on a whim, and didn’t expect much—until they got a call back two days later.
After an initial phone interview, they had a Skype interview with one of the producers.
“We had the lady cracking up, she was in tears,” Jones said. “She was trying to be discrete about if we got it or not, but we knew we had it.”
Originally, the show asked for Los Angeles residents only, but they opened casting to other larger cities.
“It’s crazy because at first it was just LA, then it was New York, and then they kept adding cities and we were the only team from Wisconsin,” he said.
They flew out for the taping in June 2021, and then realized what show they were actually on.
The main objective on “The Floor is Lava” is pretty simple—get across the obstacle course and don’t fall into the goop flowing below. He said the team played sports and were pretty athletic, but there wasn’t really a game plan going into it.
“Basically, you get there, they tell you what to do, and you try your best. There really is no preparation for this,” Jones said. “They show the team a video of potential ways to escape the room, but that was about it.”
After the taping, they flew back to Milwaukee excited for the show, but hadn’t heard anything from producers.
It almost looked like their adventure out West wasn’t going to air, as the release date for the show was pushed back several times. First it was January, then April, then sometime around summer.
“I was kind of getting concerned, and I was kind of like ‘it’s whatever. Then, one day, I wake up and the trailer and fliers are online. It went super slow, and then got super-fast,” Jones said.
The new season of “Floor is Lava” will be released on Netflix on June 3, 2022.
Jones said he and his siblings are planning a watch party for the debut, and to watch their social media for updates about the upcoming event.
He said he was ecstatic about representing Milwaukee on such a big platform.
“They were filming during the Bucks run last year, and there wasn’t even supposed to be a team from Milwaukee, but we did so good they casted us. We had to put on for our city,” Jones said.
Check out the trailer for “Floor is Lava” online.
Visit JayDay Hilarious Jones on all social media plaforms.