A street-level Google Maps Street View photo showing The Gimmick in Ybor City, Florida captured for the internet c. December 2025. Captured in a wide daytime shot, a single-story white bungalow features a dark front porch with a red overhead sign reading "The Gimmick Art + Events." A person stands in the front doorway near porch chairs and yellow doormats, set alongside a concrete walkway, green trees, neighboring white buildings, and a parked white minivan on the left under sunny skies.
The Gimmick in Ybor City, Florida captured for the internet c. December 2025. Credit: Screengrab by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay / Google. Maps

Over the summer, the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee came down to a spelloff between 14-year-old Shrey Parikh from California and 12-year-old Ishaan Gupta from New Jersey.

They each had 90 seconds to spell as many words correctly as possible. Parikh ended up doing 32, setting a new record. Words in the tournament included Parikh’s final word, “bromocriptine,” and you can bet there’s no way the contestants at this local bee will get close to that.

Hosting what’s billed as the “F*cked Up Spelling Bee,” DIY east Ybor City spot The Gimmick (literally facing the tracks between 22nd and 23rd Streets, near Casa Santo Stefano), the venue promises to showcase comedians getting drunk and trying to impress the crowd and esteemed panel with their intelligence or lack thereof. The best part, it’s BYOB for anyone who buys a ticket.

Tickets for F*cked Up Spelling Bee at The Gimmick in Ybor City on Thursday, Oct. 29 are still available for $10.

F*cked Up Spelling Bee @ The Gimmick! BYOB Comedy!

Time Thu., Oct. 29, 8-9:15 p.m.

Location Gimmick Comedy Club, 2213 East 6th Avenue, tampa

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This article appears in Oct. 15 – 21, 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...