Is that Jose Gaspar? No. Can he be roasted? Aye. Credit: Chip Weiner

Guess who’s back? If you can’t tell, pirates have returned to Tampa thanks to Gasparilla, a Tampeño rite of passage that goes all the way back to 1904.

The party’s not been without controversy—the founding Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla didn’t let Black men join as members until 1991—but that’s not the only jaw-dropping factoid. Jose Gaspar, known as “the last of the Buccaneers,” didn’t even exist.

Expect the improv geniuses and comedians at The Commodore to skewer the gentleman at this annual roast.

Tickets are $14.76 for The Roast of Jose Gaspar, happening Friday, Jan. 30. in Tampa.

The Roast of Jose Gaspar

Time Fri., Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m.

Location The Commodore, 811 E. 7th Avenue, Tampa

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This article appears in Jan. 22 – 28, 2026.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...