Daily Inspiration: Meet Jason Fylan-Mares

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Fylan-Mares.  

Hi Jason, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My journey into comedy was born from a lifelong battle with severe depression. 

In 2018 I could no longer function or take care of myself. My wife Amanda took me to a mental health clinic, and the diagnosis was severe, treatment-resistant depression, the worst case my medicinal practitioner had ever seen. We went through over thirty medications in less than a year, none of which had any significant impact other than my net gain of over fifty pounds, which only amplified my depression and made my situation feel even more hopeless. 

In the spring of 2019, in one last, desperate attempt to jumpstart my way back to the land of the living, Amanda convinced me to take Bill Bushart’s Comedy 101 class at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle. We had been attending shows at the Castle for years, and although participating never crossed my mind, it did make sense; I had taught college English and public speaking for over seventeen years, written fiction under the direction of Chuck Palahniuk, the bestselling author of the iconic novel “Fight Club;” penned multiple screenplays for studios in Hollywood, and always knew and appreciated the value of laughter. The first day of class, everything started to click and fall into place, and I realized comedy had just opened up a world of possibilities for me. 

Although comedy had become a new and promising refuge, my depression continued to dictate and dominate my life. Finally, in January of 2020, Amanda got me an appointment with Pagi LeGrow of the TMS Centers of Michigan/Brain Rejuvenation Center of America in Grand Blanc. TMS, or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain. I started to feel better within three sessions as if a fog had been lifted, and I could see clearly again. Suddenly I wanted to do everything. It was as if all of my positive feelings and interests had been locked away in a safe in my brain, and TMS broke the lock, causing a flood of enthusiastic ambition that surged through me and smashed my reset button. 

Just as I finished my first two-month session, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and my beloved soulmate cat Shakespeare suddenly passed away, with his sister Siena following just three months later. After all of that work to return to the land of the living, I was again alone in an ocean, watching all of my islands of refuge close, crumble and sink: TMS Center, gym, movie theaters, comedy clubs, therapist’s office, our family Pure Barre business in Grand Blanc. Amanda and I were terrified I would fall to new lows never previously imagined. 

Desperate for signs of life and community, I filmed myself telling jokes as I taught English and public speaking lessons, told stories, gave dramatic readings of pop-song lyrics, and offered words of encouragement and support for people I knew were struggling mentally. I posted these on social media, and my friends not only enjoyed them, they overwhelmed me with requests for new content. 

I named these videos “Home-School Lessons from the Doomsday Shelter,” hosted by my very own alter-ego character – el professor – a nod to my teaching days and my Mexican/Cuban heritage. 

This led to my creation of Doomsday Shelter Comedy for Mental Health. 

In late September 2020, we held our first live comedy show: “Welcome to Doomsday,” which drew an outdoor audience of over one hundred at Fenton Winery & Brewery. At this time, I got off of my antidepressant medication and declared my depression officially over, thanks to comedy, Amanda, Pagi, and TMS, and my therapist Dr. Jessica Jenkins, who I have been with for over fourteen years. 

In October of 2020, we produced a live comedy benefit show for the Wounded Warrior Project on the rooftop of Bookie’s Bar in Detroit. In January of 2021, we partnered with friends for a livestream comedy telethon for Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle at AMC Forum 30 movie theaters in Sterling Heights. Although we do enjoy generating the occasional fund-raiser, we are not, by definition, a charity organization; every penny we make from each of our regular shows goes straight into paying for the next one. 

In April of 2021, we found a regular home for Doomsday Shelter Comedy: Gravel Capital Brewing in beautiful downtown Oxford; we have been producing a monthly show there ever since. 

In November of 2021, we again answered the call to community service when a mass shooting took place at our local Oxford High School, my alma matter. In response, we held a five-hour live comedy benefit show which raised over $6500 for the victims and their families. 

We are now spreading the laughter and positive mental health message even further into the community. In March, we held a large presentation for the students of Grand Blanc High School, and in early November, we will produce a massive mental health/live comedy event at Oakland University. 

I am currently working on a book about my journey, tentatively titled “Sunshine and Scars: How Comedy Killed Depression,” and I hope to have it completed by the end of this year. 

Throughout this journey, I have also sharpened my skills and standing as a standup comedian, as you will see from my bio/resume below. 

Our message is simple: Being alive is not enough; you have to live. Here is an excerpt from the book: 

“Depression is a vicious, soul-sucking vampire. Amanda Fylan and I created Doomsday Shelter Comedy for Mental Health to be the wooden stake, the silver bullet, the window shade pulled open at high noon. Comedy may not commit this timeless ghoul to the ground, but it can provide a reprieve: a breath just deep enough to energize a stampede back to the land of the living. 

Laughter is a gift to be cherished, shared, given, and received. 

Doomsday Shelter thanks our family of comedians, fans, and Gravel Capital Brewing for standing next to us on that edge where the darkness meets the light and extending a hand to those who need one final pull. We are just getting started and will never stop until every lost soul goes funny side up. 

Now we are ready to super-spread some laughs. In lieu of a vaccination shot, we suggest you take two chuckles and call us in the morning. 

You’re not just alive; you are living. 

So, stay young, stay invincible, live forever. 

Here comes the sun.” 

An old-fashioned, half-Mexican/half-English Midwestern gentleman and former college English and public speaking professor, Jason Fylan-Mares cracks open societal institutions and dives head-first into the ball-pit of shenanigans found inside. His smooth stage persona soothes until it smashes, like a meteor dancing across the sky until it hits the ground at maximum velocity, obliterating everything in its wake. 

The proprietor of Doomsday Shelter Comedy in his hometown of Oxford, Michigan, and a regular at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle, Jason has shared the stage with some of his greatest comedy idols, including Joe List, Mary Santora, and Dave Landau. 

He has been the feature performer at Coral Gables Comedy Club, One Night Stan’s Comedy Club, Traverse City Comedy Club, and at numerous agency-booked shows in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. 

In February of 2023, he performed at the Traverse City Comedy Festival and recently worked alongside Dave Landau and Derek Richards at theater shows in Traverse City and Canton. 

Jason recently appeared on CBS Detroit to discuss the current state of comedy in the metro Detroit area. 

He has well over forty-five minutes of high-quality, tested material and can work within any content limitations.” 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Depression never truly goes away; it lingers like a phantom, always ready to push me off the road. Compared to this life-long nemesis, every other trouble along the way seems tiny and barely significant. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The challenge of combining comedy and mental health is to somehow lift people up with laughter without preaching. The ability to relate to an audience and create a symbiotic relationship with them is an essential skill for any comedian. When I first started writing jokes about my mental health struggles, I feared they would come off like a dime-store therapy session and that audiences would be turned off. On the contrary, these jokes not only elicit some of my biggest laughs, I often see audience members nodding their heads and elbowing one another in agreement; that’s when I know the message is getting through. 

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
It is not in the destination I reach but in the path that I forge, knowing full well it will be full of unintended detours and eventually place me on a section of the map I never saw before, only to start again with a new course. Success is a destination always in motion, always a tiny measure out of reach. 

Contact Info:

• Website: doomsdaysheltercomedy.eventbrite.com
• Instagram: @doomsdaysheltercomedy
• Facebook: Doomsday Shelter Comedy

Image Credits
Libby Oclair