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Justin Peters at The Commodore in Tampa, Florida on Jan. 9, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\nJustin Peters at The Commodore in Tampa, Florida on Jan. 9, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n
When Justin Peters is staring someone dead in the eyes, everything else kind of stops. The 45-year-old journalist, comedian, and author, apparently, has always had a gift for listening and for holding an audience\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
Since December 2023, his wit, curiosity, and compassion have been a driving force of the \u201cSalud and Happy Days\u201d series at the Commodore in Ybor City<\/a>, a space he co-founded earlier that year. The show\u2019s title is a nod to a commercial for Tampa\u2019s long-shuttered Valencia Garden restaurant. During the performance, Peters interviews notable Tampe\u00f1os before unleashing improv comedians to act out what comes out in the onstage chat. The presentation is one-of-a-kind in the Bay area and has become a staple for natives and newcomers alike.<\/p>\n About 100 days ago, Peters had to stop in his tracks, too.<\/p>\n During a \u201cSalud\u201d interview with Karen Kress, the then outgoing Senior Director of Transportation & Planning at the Tampa Downtown Partnership, castmates noticed that their leader wasn\u2019t totally himself. They forced him to get checked out at Tampa General Hospital. That\u2019s when he was diagnosed with a grade four glioblastoma, the most dangerous and aggressive type of brain cancer, with an average survival time of 12-18 months.<\/p>\n Peters, who is a Slate contributor<\/a> and the author of \u201cThe Idealist: Aaron Swartz and the Rise of Free Culture on the Internet,\u201d<\/a> told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the news kind of just rolled off his back, leaving friends and family around more stricken than he was.\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, the diagnosis almost immediately left him relieved.<\/p>\n \u201cThe moment that I learned that there was a pretty significant percentage that I won\u2019t survive through the end of Donald Trump\u2019s current presidential term, that took a lot of the pressure off of me,\u201d Peters added. \u201cPressure I\u2019ve been feeling with respect to getting another book out or establishing myself as a regular contributor to Slate\u00a0 and so on and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n Since mid-May, Peters said he\u2019s been taking it easy and letting himself not worry about a publishing career. He went back home to New York City, where just one surgeon, Dr. John Boockvar, agreed to do surgery.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the other doctors I talked to around here were like, \u2018No, we would not even risk cutting you open to try to debulk the tumor because of its placement across both frontal lobes,\u2019\u201d Peters explained. \u201cHe was like \u2018I\u2019ll go in. I\u2019ll do it tomorrow.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Peters, along with his family and partner in comedy, Kelly Buttermore<\/a>, asked Boockvar for a couple weeks to get ready. On June 8, Boockvar, who appears in the Netflix documentary \u201cLenox Hill,\u201d ended up taking out 75% of the growth.<\/p>\n Radiation and chemotherapy followed, and are on the agenda in the weeks ahead, but last Monday, Peters looked at ease. The taste of food, he added, is a lot better, much like everything else in his life.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything\u2019s a fucking gift. Everything feels better, is better. I feel better,\u201d he said, admitting that he might think differently after the next round of treatment. \u201cBut as of now, I\u2019m feeling great. I\u2019m optimistic. I got nothing bad to say about my treatment out here. I\u2019m doing good.\u201d<\/p>\n Buttermore, a Commodore co-founder, attributes Peters\u2019 attitude to the improv they\u2019ve been practicing for more than a decade-and-a-half now. \u201cWhat does that teach you except all you have is right now\u2014it sounds really corny, but it is actually true,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n It\u2019s natural to want to reach for answers from a doctor, but improv teaches someone to be in a scene, think about who they are to the others on stage, and what the stakes are for everyone. The cast in a show has to let go, accept what is going to happen next, and adjust.<\/p>\n Despite the devastating prognosis, Buttermore said, the last three months have been filled with countless moments of joy and laughter. Peters obviously had no clue that his practice, work, and effort in improv would lead him here, but did surrender that \u201cit\u2019s come in very handy.\u201d<\/p>\n Everything he\u2019s put in for others has apparently boomeranged for Peters, too. A GoFundMe launched three months ago<\/a> to help with expenses has surpassed its goal, and this weekend a bunch of Peters\u2019 friends and collaborators are throwing a benefit at their unofficial clubhouse: Tampa\u2019s American Legion Seminole Post 111.<\/p>\n MW Walker, a songwriter, actor and fellow Commodore co-founder, told CL the Legion is where he really got to know Peters. Walker will play music there, and so will the rarely seen electro-experimental act Yung Groan, Have Spirit, rock outfits Abortion Twins and Bad, Bad Things, and others. Raffle prizes and food from Taco Dale are on the menu. Bartenders are giving their tips to Peters, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat place is a good hang,\u201d Walker said. \u201cThe hang is where you really get to meet people and understand them, bond and become true friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Walker said that there was a karaoke night at the Legion\u2014after Countdown Improv Festival, the first time Peters got to hang post-surgery\u2014where friends got to kind of grieve together.<\/p>\n Peters said the fact that his people over at the Legion are throwing this benefit concert is really touching. \u201cI\u2019m really grateful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He\u2019s not spent the last decade trying to cork or manifest this kind of support, but most of his days have been devoted to trying to create opportunities for others.<\/p>\n \u201cThen the moment comes where you need help, and just to see the people for whom you created all those opportunities stand up and try to help you out and lift the burden from your shoulder, it feels great,\u201d Peters said. \u201cIt\u2019s really a humbling experience, but a good one.\u201d<\/p>\n Peters won\u2019t be able to fly down for the benefit, but friends will likely send video. In fact, he encourages anyone who has his contact to reach out, regardless of whether they know what to say or not. \u201cJust reach out, say, \u2018Hi,\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n And while it\u2019s true that for right now, Peters is letting time stop, and just taking it moment to moment, he does know what the first order of business will be if this all ends with the doctor telling him he\u2019s beat the brain cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll go out and drink like 20 beers,\u201d he said, specifying a preference for Coors Banquet and tapping into his improv mind when it comes to the aftermath. \u201cThat would be my first order of business. Just go get completely fucking hammered that night, and then deal with the consequences of that for the next three days.\u201d<\/p>\n Salud indeed, and here\u2019s to hoping that Peters has many happy days ahead.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/JP-post-surgery.jpg\")
Kelly Buttermore (L) and Justin Peters at Lenox Hill hospital in New York City, New York on June 8, 2026. Credit: c\/o Kelly Buttermore<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Countdown-Improv-Festival-Justin-Peters-Kelly-Buttermore-Eddie-Geller.png\")
(L-R) Justin Peters, Kelly Buttermore and Eddie Geller at The Commodore in Ybor City, Florida on Aug. 7, 2026.<\/p>\n
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