Creepy Jason, owner of House of Madness tattoo shop in Hampstead

Jan. 4—In this episode of the UnCapped podcast, host Chris Sands talks with "Ink Master" contestant Jason Lynn about his career as a tattoo artist, his experience on the show, his board game Dystopian Knights and his tattoo shop, House of Madness, in Hampstead. Here is an excerpt of their talk.

UnCapped: Today we are in beautiful Taneytown, Maryland, at Brewery Fire to talk to Jason Lynn. If you've ever watched season 12 or season 14 of "Ink Master," you probably know him as Creepy Jason.

Jason Lynn: I'm off duty right now, so just "Jason" works.

UnCapped: Where did you get the nickname? Was that just for the show, or do people in real life call you Creepy Jason?

Lynn: No one in real life calls me Creepy Jason. The idea of that on the show was like a bad joke that I thought was gonna be funny till I saw my name really big on my station that said "Creepy Jason." I was like, oh, what have I done to myself? And then it clicks that it's a "battle of the sexes" season and I'm calling myself Creepy Jason. I'm like, man, I really just dug myself into a grave here.

The whole idea started with my horrible sense of humor, which is almost limitless. There's not much I won't make fun of. In the shop, I'll say something pretty awful, and they'll say, "That's creepy, Jason."

During the casting process, the production [team] wanted to know what I wanted to be called, what's my name. So I said "Creepy Jason?" And they were like, "We gotta talk to copyright about that. We'll get back to you." They green-lit it, and it became who I am now.

UnCapped: That's hilarious. I love that it's a character you created for the show.

Lynn: Yeah, and that's what it feels like. I put on a hat, I put on a tie and suspenders, and I'd be that character Creepy Jason.

UnCapped: I didn't even think about that, but you did always wear a specific style of clothes [on the show].

Lynn: It's my Creepy Jason uniform. When I put it on, I become that character. It's great. It helps separate who I really am from the character. It was almost like Clark Kent turning into superman but way less powerful.

UnCapped: Are there other people on the show like that, who created a character?

Lynn: Yeah, there were a handful of people on there previous to me who used fake names as well. I remembered who they are, but [don't remember] so many people on there who used their real names ... so, I was like, I want to be remembered. Why go on as Jason Lynn? I wanna be Creepy Jason.

UnCapped: And if you don't go on with a powerful personality on those types of shows, one, you're not gonna make it far.

Lynn: You're not gonna make it through casting.

UnCapped: And two, you are going to be the unmemorable, no one cares ... it's not going to do anything for your career to be on that show. You're another person who's gonna be forgotten out of the, what is it, 12 people?

Lynn: Season 12 was 16 people.

UnCapped: If you're boring, no one's gonna remember you out of 16 people.

Lynn: They cast for personalities. They don't really care what your tattoos are like.

UnCapped: They definitely missed on a few.

Lynn: Yeah, exactly. But they know what they're doing. The casting people are geniuses. In the same regard, I knew what they were looking for,

I spun all this BS about being an egotistical, narcissistic ass—, I don't take s— from anybody, and I show up and I'm Mister Nice Guy, just doing tattoos and there to have a good time. But they want that aggression. They want conflict. They want you to get into people's faces. At that point, it was too late for them to say no to me because I was already there.

UnCapped: Are you saying that reality TV is not real?

Lynn: I usually refer to it as 3/4 reality. There's definitely 25% of it that's total BS. It's all unscripted — that's the key word there — but it is provoked. They do push narratives and people and stories in certain directions, and then they film so much, they can just cut out what they don't want to show and really focus on the things that push the narrative that they want to develop on you.

UnCapped: I feel like you just told me Santa Claus isn't real.

Lynn: Yeah, hate to break it to you, dude.

UnCapped: There is one part of how "Ink Master" is edited I absolutely hate. It's the reaction shots.

Lynn: Yes. We film all of those before the scene even starts.

UnCapped: So they just tell you what to do?

Lynn: They say, "Everybody look surprised," "Everybody look disappointed," "Everybody look at your neighbor to the right, angry." And that's it. And they just cut that in wherever they want to.

UnCapped: You can tell it's not even remotely flowing. It's always the most generic [reactions].

Lynn: When they tell you for the 100th time what you're winning, and you have to act surprised ... again ... . There were plenty of times where we'd record entire scenes, and they'd be like, "Your reactions weren't big enough. We're gonna do it again." You have to repeat the same dialogue and have the same energy but higher.

UnCapped: How long did it take [in the casting process] until they cared about your tattoos?

Lynn: They never did. ... But the tattooing does count. If you're doing bad tattoos, you're not gonna stay there. It doesn't matter how cool your personality is or how much conflict you're causing, if you're doing bad tattoos, you're going home.

This excerpt has been edited for space and clarity. Listen to the full podcast at fnppodcasts.com/uncapped. Got UnCapped news? Email csands@newspost.com.