We were lucky to catch up with Jason Fylan-Mares recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jason, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I pride myself on being a student of the game of comedy. Like every comedian, I watch the specials and dial in on the words and nuances of my all-time comedy heroes.

More importantly, I attend as many live comedy shows as possible: from small local shows in VFW halls and hole-in-the-wall bars; to the bright lights and high stages of clubs, theaters and everything in between and beyond.

Jason, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I didn’t choose comedy; I reached for it in one final attempt at keeping myself alive. After years of attempts to pull me off of my own ledge through doctors, medications, and therapy, it was comedy that rescued me from the worst case of treatment-resistant depression my practitioner had ever seen. My wife Amanda and I had attended live comedy shows at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle for years, but it wasn’t until she was out of options to save my life that she forced me to take Bill Bushart’s Comedy 101 class at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle. From there, an entire new world opened up to me; I was suddenly social, distracted by and immersed in this new superpower: the ability to make people laugh at things I made up in my head. It was then I realized that laughter is not just the best medicine; it is the antidote to despair and a bridge to positive possibilities.

Amanda and I created Doomsday Shelter Comedy for Mental Health as a way to give back to the thing that saved us, to serve the comedy gods and make magic in their names. We have been producing our own live comedy shows since 2020, and we hope everyone who has attended or will attend gives themselves over to the power of laughter, to be a small ripple in the waves of shared joy that wash over an audience and leave them buzzing long after the show has ended,

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

When someone comes up to me after a show and says “Thank you. I needed that.” Those few words encompass everything we try to do with Doomsday Shelter Comedy. Every time I take the stage at one of our shows, I say a quick prayer of gratitude and remind myself there is someone in the audience this night who needs the laughter to help initiate their climb out of the darkness and a crawl into the light, just as I needed and continue to need it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The possibility of failure motivates but does not scare me. Nothing related to comedy could ever match the horrifying certainty that I would one day die by my own hand. When you stare into that abyss and reach out for the hand that lives within and count the seconds until it reaches back to pull you in, and yet you somehow walk away still alive and kicking, a bad set or a missed opportunity seem like less than minor inconveniences. This contrast allows me the freedom to pursue my dreams with a primal ferocity while deflecting the failures like so many pellets to a shield.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @doomsdaysheltercomedy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jason.m.fylan/
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Photos by: Jason Fylan-Mares and Libby Oclair.