Batman LIVE! is a rowdy, joke-packed parody that dives deep into the Dark Knight’s canon with improv, puns and fan-service fun.

RISE Comedy has spent the past year packing its downtown Denver space with capes, chaos and enough puns to fill the Batcave. Batman LIVE! A Parody Immersive Comedy Experience, a hybrid of scripted sketch and improv comedy, wrapped its 2025 run on Friday, Nov. 21, and holy smokes, Batman! It is one of the venue’s most unapologetically nerdy and delightfully unhinged creations.

Written and directed by Nick Armstrong (with assistant directors Elizabeth Thomas and Liza Fryberger), the production leans hard into every corner of the Batman canon, from Adam West’s camp to Christian Bale’s grit to Robert Pattinson’s brooding sparkle. It’s an experience packed with silly wordplay, deep-cut references and a cast that clearly loves every inch of Gotham’s weird, unwieldy universe.

While the show runs long and occasionally indulges its own jokes, it’s also a testament to RISE’s willingness to push beyond typical improv nights and try something stranger and brazenly geeky.

One of several Jokers in the show. | Photo: Toni Tresca

A scripted but spry structure

The show uses Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman as a loose spine, but Armstrong quickly smashes through the film’s structure like a runaway Batmobile. Before the show begins, an opening montage shows Adam West attempting to remove a bomb, the infamous real Colt 45 commercial starring Billy Dee Williams and the 1989 film’s sequence with two goons on the roof. That irreverent, reference-loaded energy carries straight into the show’s live action.

From there, the evening is steered by two hosts: Mr. Freeze (Todd Couch) and Alfred (played on alternating nights by Chris Gropp or Jacob Sorling). Couch’s Freeze, modeled squarely on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pun-spouting performance, is an absolute riot. He unleashes icy zinger after zinger with such gusto that you can’t help but root for him, villain or not.

Alfred serves as the necessary counterbalance. He’s a buttoned-up British butler trying, often futilely, to keep the show on its tracks. The pair’s oil-and-water dynamic is one of the evening’s most reliable engines.

While marketed as an immersive improvised show, Batman LIVE! is more scripted than casual RISE-goers might expect. Large chunks follow prewritten jokes, beats and callbacks — a wise choice, given the sheer density of Batman references in play.

When Freeze or Alfred yells “new choice,” forcing actors to swap out a line, the cast gamely pivots, but the structure underneath remains firm. Still, audience volunteers add a fresh layer of unpredictability, especially when they’re recruited to play Batman’s mother and even Batman himself, performing cue-card scenes with wonderfully chaotic enthusiasm.

The parade of Jokers, in which each actor plays a distinct cinematic interpretation of the insane clown prince, is the show’s most memorable gag. There’s the Heath Ledger-inspired Nolan Joker, the mustachioed Romero Joker, the unhinged Todd Phillips Joker, the tattooed-and-confused Jared Leto Joker, and of course, the 1989 Jack Nicholson Joker, who treats the Romero Joker like his disappointed dad.

The jokes about Oscars, bad tattoos, whose portrayal is the best and franchise whiplash hit hard. It’s a recurring delight, and the ensemble of Jokers, Jared Schroder, Cody Ullrich, Jacob Sorling, Spencer White, Luke Milliard, Mateo Harris, Jorge Soto, Eli Hebl and Luke Milliard, clearly relishes the chance to chew the scenery. This is the show at its most inspired: a meta-multiverse clown car of chaos.

Photo: Toni Tresca

A few Bat-snagged moments

At nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission, Batman LIVE! can overstay its welcome. The cast was occasionally indulgent, stretching out scenes, repeating riffs and allowing certain exchanges to last long after their peak punchline. Some of this looseness feels appropriate for an improv-driven parody; others feel like a show that has not been trimmed in a while, such as the odd sexual exchanges between Harvey Dent and the Mayor.

And while the Burton 1989 framework provides an easy skeleton for the evening, the moments that recreate scenes too literally — like the two goons nervously debating whether Batman exists — don’t land with the same spark as the more imaginative parodies. They function more as fan-service placeholders than comedic reinterpretations.

Not every comedic detour finds its place, either. When Freeze and Alfred pause the narrative to play the improv game “Sex with Me,” they absolutely kill the bit, but the game doesn’t feel organically connected to the rest of the production.

It’s a classic short-form move dropped inside a long-form parody, and the shift briefly pulls the audience out of Gotham and back into a typical RISE Comedy set. It’s funny, but it highlights the show’s occasional uncertainty about whether it wants to be an immersive sketch parody, a structured narrative, or a traditional improv night.

Some supporting performances also struggle to make an impression amid the chaos. While Freeze, the cast of Jokers and Matthew Rodriquez’s beer-guzzling Harvey Dent/Two-Face steal the show, characters like Vicki Vale, the Mayor and Lt. Eckhardt fade into the background, never finding a comedic angle strong enough to compete with the sharper material swirling around them.

Bat-tastic show for diehard fans

Still, despite occasional sluggishness, Batman LIVE! succeeds as a lively, big-hearted tribute to Gotham’s most overexposed hero. The costumes and makeup are genuinely impressive for a small-budget comedy show, with Freeze’s icy blue grin and all the Jokers’ distinct detailing popping under RISE’s intimate lighting. Props are silly but effective, from Colt 45 bottles to cue cards to low-fi gadgets that feel pulled from a campy Saturday morning cartoon.

Most importantly, the cast approaches the material with real affection. This isn’t a roast; it’s a celebration of decades of pop-culture absurdity. If you know and love Batman, even casually, the joke density and Easter eggs are irresistible. If you’re Batman-curious, you’ll still find plenty to enjoy in the performers’ commitment and the show’s scrappy creativity.

RISE Comedy continues to push beyond traditional improv and stand-up with hybrid productions like this one. Batman LIVE! may be a bit messy and overextended, but it’s also inventive, spirited and often laugh-out-loud funny.

For Denver’s comedy and geek communities, it’s a big win. And if RISE fires up the Bat Signal for a 2026 return, it would be a welcome addition to the city’s growing lineup of inventive, genre-bending comedy.