A comedy show where audience members decide who gets eliminated by raising torches is expanding its reach this fall, adding late-night dates at a historic North End theater to its ongoing run in Somerville's Davis Square. Called glADDY8rs: Stand Up Comedy Death Battle, the show has built a local following through an audience-voted elimination format, and it is now scaling from its home base at The Rockwell into Boston's Improv Asylum.
The show's fall run now spans six dates across the two venues through December, according to the Charlestown Bridge. The flagship show opened at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St. in Somerville, on Friday, September 4, 2026, at 9:30 p.m., with additional Rockwell dates scheduled for October 2, November 20, and December 18, all at the 200-seat venue. A new spinoff, glADDY8rs: Late Night, opened at Improv Asylum's 216 Hanover St. location in Boston's North End on September 18 at 11:30 p.m., with a second late-night date set for October 16 running from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
The elimination mechanics themselves are what set the show apart from a standard stand-up lineup. According to venue rules published by The Rockwell, three random audience members are selected as judges for each show, and a performing comedian is eliminated from the stage as soon as all three judges raise their torches. The format, per the Charlestown Bridge, uses an audience-voted structure in which comedians are eliminated one by one until a single winner remains, with the show's name pronounced like “gladiators.”
An Improv Asylum Cast Member Behind the Concept
The show was created, produced, and hosted by Addy Gover, an Improv Asylum Wednesday Company cast member who also performs as an understudy for the theater's Mainstage cast. Gover has taught improv workshops at institutions including MIT and Google and previously performed with the now-shuttered ImprovBoston and with Union Comedy, according to Improv Asylum. Gover has said the show is defined by the audience's experience, and glADDY8rs is built to spotlight new and up-and-coming Boston-area talent, with 23 Boston-area comics featured across the run per the Charlestown Bridge.
Gover's grassroots roots in Somerville run deeper than glADDY8rs itself. As reported by The Somerville Times in November 2024, Gover hosts Atomic Comedy's Indie Improv Night on the third Thursday of each month at ROOTED Armory Café and has organized a monthly LGBTQ+ Improv Comedy Community Meetup. That local organizing work helped glADDY8rs build early momentum, including multiple sell-out dates at Arts at the Armory and The Rockwell over the preceding year, before the show scaled up to larger 200-seat venues.
Late Night Brings a Rowdier, Shorter Format
glADDY8rs: Late Night is described as an abbreviated and intoxicated version of the flagship show, retaining the competitive elimination format and local comics but compressing the runtime into a single late-night hour. The spinoff's move into Improv Asylum's 200-seat main theater and separate bar room, in a historic building at 216 Hanover Street, extends the show beyond Somerville, per specifications published by PartySlate.
Improv Asylum itself carries decades of history in that neighborhood. Co-founded in 1998 by CEO Norm Laviolette, the theater grew over two decades into a North End comedy staple before pandemic-era shutdowns forced closures, later reopening to sold-out audiences, as reported by CBS News in March 2021. That longevity makes Improv Asylum a notable new partner for a show that started as a scrappier local production.
Filling a Void Left by ImprovBoston's Closure
The expansion arrives against the backdrop of a reshaped Greater Boston comedy scene. ImprovBoston, a 40-year institution, permanently closed in December 2023, displacing scores of local performers and improv groups, according to background compiled from Wikipedia. That closure left a gap in affordable, community-oriented performance spaces that shows like glADDY8rs have moved to help fill.
Somerville's density of creative talent has likely helped fuel that resurgence. Cultural mapping data published by ArtsBoston shows Somerville ranks among the highest cities in the United States for artist concentration per capita, trailing only New York City. The Rockwell itself, which originally opened in 1987 as The Boston Baked Theatre and later operated as Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway and the Davis Square Theatre before reemerging under its current name in September 2016, has long served as one of those preserved affordable performance spaces amid development pressure in the square, according to The Somerville Times.
Where to Catch the Remaining Dates
The Rockwell remains glADDY8rs' primary home even as it branches out. Remaining Rockwell dates are set for October 2, November 20, and December 18, all at 9:30 p.m., while the next Late Night date at Improv Asylum runs October 16 from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Tickets are sold through www.gladdy8rs.com, and the show posts updates at @gladdy8rs on Instagram.
