One-man show defends the 'Caveman'
They've been credited with building the first wheel, inspiring a cartoon superhero, and - oddest of all - selling car insurance so effectively that they got their own sitcom.
So, with such an impressive track record, why do cavemen need to be defended?
Well, it turns out that society (especially the women who marry cavemen) expect them to have evolved a little since the Cro-Magnon era.
But, as comic Rob Becker acutely observed in 1991, that probably ain't gonna to happen.
Becker's one-man play, "Defending the Caveman," clearly struck a nerve. It became the longest-running solo play in Broadway history, productions of the play have appeared all over the globe, and it returns to Boston next week at the Stuart Street Playhouse, Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
The show is now being performed by Michael Van Osch, who has been defending the couch potatoes and one-track-mind shoppers for more than two years.
"I'm still having a lot of fun with the play," admits Van Osch. "There's a reason it's the longest-running. People see themselves in it."
The play takes the stance that men and women don't "get" each other because, and this is the secret wisdom of the show, they are different.
Shh! Don't tell anyone.
The observation may sound a little obvious now - is there a standup comic out there who hasn't performed some version of this concept? - but give Becker credit, his show got it so right that it's still funny after all these years.
"When a woman says something a man doesn't understand, she's seen as mysterious," says Van Osch, referencing a bit in the show. "But when a guy says something a women doesn't understand, we're wrong. And therein lies the funny part."
In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, who is one of history's great cavemen, "It's funny 'cause it's true."
The idea for the play came when Becker attended a party and overheard women discussing how men were jerks. But Becker didn't feel like a jerk. So, at least initially, Becker wrote the play as a defense for his fellow cavemen.
"I saw Rob perform it sometime in 1999 in Atlanta," says Van Osch. "There were 2,000 people there, and the crowd was laughing so hard it was difficult to hear the next line."
Five years later, Van Osch joined the show and has kept the crowd laughing. Expect to hear Van Osch expound on how women bond through conversation and how men bond through activity (fishing, playing video games) or the old joke of how women like to search when they shop, while men know exactly what they want in a store.
"I also talk about how a woman will call you back when she gets home, while a man will call you back sometime before he dies," says Van Osch. "The show has been updated, but mainly to incorporate pop culture references."
The core of the show remains the same: Men and women still can't figure each other out.
There's a story Van Osch relishes in telling, involving a couple he saw at one of his shows. In the beginning, they were sitting as far apart from each other as possible, as if "they had a spat in the parking lot."
As the show goes on, Van Osch says he starts to notice they are nudging each other and laughing, and, by the end, are walking out arm-in-arm.
"I've had marriage and family therapists come to the show and say that we make some really good points," says Van Osch. "In fact, some women have said to me afterwards that everyone should see this before they get married."
But don't think that seeing the show will magically end the miscommunication between you and your partner. Van Osch has committed every line of the show to memory, and he still doesn't have all the answers.
"I think this show has helped my relationship with my girlfriend," says Van Osch. "At the end of the day, she's doing certain things because she's a woman and I can understand that. But I don't think we're meant to fully figure each other out. We're supposed to be different."