NewmarketToday continues its annual tradition of marking the giving season by celebrating Newmarket's Community Angels — the people whose kindness, compassion and community spirit help make our town one of the best to live in the country.
When Ryan Zeitz takes to the comedy stage in Newmarket and Toronto, he often speaks from experience.
He draws much of his material from his own struggles with mental health and depression. From those struggles, he is now able to spread some laughter — including at regular monthly shows in Newmarket.
“There is a certain therapeutic value in performing to people, but also there’s especially a therapeutic value in finding the humour in your lived experience and finding humour in past trauma,” he said. “If you’re able to laugh at something that’s happened to you, it takes a little bit of the power away from that experience.”
It is a technique the Richmond Hill resident is spreading to others. Zeitz has begun teaching a comedy course through the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health’s collaborative learning college. Through the free course, he teaches others about comedy and using it for mental health.
The advocate has also worked to host special shows to fundraise for CAMH, centred around mental health comedy.
“I thought, I want to try to give back. I want to try and make this into something bigger,” he said of starting a fundraiser show. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for CAMH. It’s the hospital that saved my life.”
Undiagnosed mental health symptoms have been an issue his entire life, he said, but they came into a head in 2018 when he was in a college program. He said he fell into a crippling depression and dropped out, experiencing suicidal ideation. He would be checked into the hospital and work through it for several months, also receiving a bipolar disorder diagnosis.
He said watching a Netflix special called Comedians of the World helped spur him toward recovery, as it made him laugh and feel joy for the first time in months.
“It kind of was a turning point for me in my recovery.”
Zeitz and his father would go on to take a comedy class with Second City in Toronto. He called it transformative, and he would go on to do dozens of small comedy shows throughout the area.
But the pandemic closing that off was an issue. He said that he fell into another deep depression and was admitted to CAMH in June 2020. He said he went through a long recovery process, staying in the hospital for about seven weeks.
After that, he said someone suggested he start using his comedy to talk about his mental health experience. He would take part in comedy shows in Zoom, bringing his mental health journey into his material.
“They got a lot of really great feedback. I had both audience members and comedians coming up and thanking me,” he said. “I obviously connected with a lot of comedians. There’s a fair amount of mental illness in the comedy community.”
Zeitz would go on to be a comedy regular in the area. He forged a partnership with Old Flame Brewing Co. in Newmarket, where he does comedy shows on the fourth Thursday of every month.
“I’ve definitely been to Newmarket a whole bunch,” he said. “I honestly love Main Street Newmarket.”
As for his CAMH class, he said it has gone well. He said he is now developing a sequel course at the next level.
“It’s been so awesome to see these participants showing up to class every day,” he said, comparing it to a peer support group.
Meanwhile, he plans to do more shows to fundraise for CAMH, with another one in Toronto at the Rivoli. Feb. 1.
He said he hopes to eventually build a mental health comedy practice, teaching it by day and performing it by night.
“It’s been so cool. I think I worked out an interesting niche in comedy,” he said. “I want it to continue that way because I think it’s so important.”
You can find information and tickets for his shows through RyGuy Comedy on Eventbrite.
