Cody Lyman Defends the Caveman

Cute, cute, cute Cody Lyman thinks cavemen have gotten a bad rap. After all, he says, when we think of cavemen and cavewomen, we often visualize that old cartoon image of the head bonk and ponytail drag.

Lyman argues that nothing could be further from the truth. “Cave diggers are finding goddess images and paintings on walls,” he says. “The caveman worships the cavewoman.”

Or perhaps the caveman just enjoys a little prehistoric cave porn. Nonetheless, Lyman delivers a comedic look at men, women and our differences when he brings the longest running one-man show on Broadway here to Paducah. Defending the Caveman opens at the Carson Center on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. — a first for Kentucky — with multiple performances through Nov. 3. Check the Web site for details.


The show was written and, for 15 years, performed by California comedian Rob Becker. After huge, huge, huge success, Becker stepped off the stage and hired seven cavemen to carry the club, with shows packing in audiences across the U.S., South America and Europe. Lyman was the fourth caveman hired. He’s done the show several hundred times now.

“It’s all about men and women and how sometimes our differences can lead to misunderstandings,” Lyman said during a recent phone interview. “It’s all done with a lot of humor. I remember one time in California, I was talking to a couple after the show and the woman said, ‘Thank you. The show made me remember why I fell in love with my husband in the first place.’”

The differences that may have caused tension in that marriage and others, Lyman says, are explained through some simple prehistoric history. Back in the day, Lyman explains, men were hunters and women were gathers. Hunters went out and focused on one task and one task only: hunting down their prey until it was dead. Cavemen weren’t big on small talk — they didn’t want to scare away the varmints.

Cavewomen, on the other hand, found it useful to talk while gathering — they wanted to scare away any unfriendly beasts. Plus, they wanted to keep tabs on one another. If you hadn’t heard from a fellow gatherer in awhile, it might mean that she became some big lion’s lunch.

So thus explains the origin of our differences, including, says Lyman, the fact that women speak 7,000 words a day to men’s 2,000. “When I come home and I’m quiet, my girlfriend used to think I was mad,” he says. “It wasn’t that — I was just out of words.”


Girlfriend? Did he say girlfriend? That calls for a whole new set of questions! For example, does all this cave talk make Lyman a better boyfriend? “I probably know a little bit more about where I’m coming from and a bit more about where she’s coming from,” he says. “Primarily, I’ve learned that if you’re a hunter or a gatherer, you need to be willing to spend some energy, go into the other person’s world and participate without judgment.”

Like, for instance, the world of Tiffany. Some men admit to being befuddled by the whole concept of jewelry while many of us womenfolk have a full and complete understanding of anything that sparkles, dangles and shines.

“I don’t understand jewelry either,” Lyman says. “I just know it’s important.”

That's good enough for us cavewomen. Just hunt it down and wrap it up! And be sure to catch Lyman’s show at the Carson Center. Tell us what you think of the show using the comments link below. (Photos by Michael Brosilow)