Rock-solid ‘Caveman’ endures thanks to its timeless truths

"Defending the Caveman" wasn't a sure bet for survival of the species on the Strip.

It was 10 years past Broadway and had traveled all over the world. But that seldom scares producers away from Vegas. Besides, if people knew what it was, that solved another problem: how to explain what it is.

Vegas never had a long-form comic monologue, worrisomely referred to in some cities as, gulp, a "play" because of its theatrical music and lighting cues.

Riskiest of all? It has a point to it. Actual information behind the jokes, about the anthropological differences between men and women. Potentially lethal to a Vegas-vacation brain freeze.

But the author, Rob Becker, deserved his handsome royalties by writing (and originally performing) something so universal; just look at the YouTube videos of guys doing the show in Swiss or with Irish accents. For years, "Caveman" thrived on word of mouth by handing out Paleolithic things called postcards after the show, so people could tell their friends.

And now, in Las Vegas, it's working its way to four years of rock-solid stability with Kevin Burke. The show changes venues, not hands. Burke has delivered the title at the Golden Nugget, Excalibur and now the Improv at Harrah's, a comedy club with a more welcoming layout than the Excalibur and psychological reinforcement that it's more stand-up than lecture.

Burke owns Becker's script just as assuredly as if it were his own. "That is a smart man," one couple noted on the way out. Nice of them to say that, as Becker's inspiration came from no one challenging the cocktail party comment, "Men are all assholes."

"The truth is the caveman actually worshipped women," Burke says on his little "Flintstones" stage with a rock-sculpted TV (so ancient it's not even flat-screen). He then elaborates on all the things he wishes he'd said about men and women.

"Why don't we just look at them as different?" he says, to lay down the researched groundwork for jokey explanations of cooperation versus negotiation, and hunting ("killing" channels with the TV remote) versus gathering (stopping for information from each channel).

The underlying science gives heft to lines that would otherwise be typical stand-up fare: "Most women do not like to be called 'Buttwipe,' " Burke notes of the differences in male-female decorum.

Burke is a rotund guy who would be your sitcom neighbor or your buddy in a buddy movie. The one-time circus clown finds every visual he can between the lines, acting out how fishing is the closest two guys could come to sitting at a table and talking: "The barest excuse of an activity, but you still gotta have one."

The piece is timeless in its larger truths, which almost rescues this abridged hour version from being frozen in its 1990s origins. The longer "Caveman" endures, the more it will sound like it's talking about your parents.

Burke is allowed to add a text-messaging reference here and a "Dancing with the Stars" mention there. But it's Becker's great idea, so it's Becker who should really think about updating his insights to reflect the past 15 years of society and the peculiarities of a new generation.

But that's a lot to ask of an hour that already explains a whole species. On a first visit especially, you'll likely be too busy nodding your head and smiling at what's there, instead of worrying about what isn't.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.