By Dana Casadei

Yesterday afternoon I got coffee with one of my best girlfriends. First thing she said, “You look cute!” We then proceeded to discuss no less than seven different things during our 40 minutes together. Two men sat at the table next to us, both staring at their computer screens, saying no more than about 20 words while we were there. Why in the world am I telling you this? Because these types of everyday differences between men and women are what “Defending the Caveman” at Detroit’s City Theatre are chalk full of. And what makes the show so raw and honest.

Written by Rob Becker, “Defending the Caveman” has the record for the longest-running solo play in Broadway history, opening on The Great White Way in 1995. As cliche as it sounds, the show really is relatable for everyone, proving why it’s been around for nearly a decade. Becker has created a show that should be a required college course, teaching young men and women so many things about what makes us so different, and why that’s perfectly alright.

Two things you definitely won’t find at this show: a man rambling on about how much better men are than women, or someone saying how this show is “anti-feminist.” It’s not preachy or mean; it’s just a dude talking about how different we are, how we’re each our own culture. No need for either side to get out their pitchforks just yet.

Coming in under two hours, the show is quick-witted on a wide variety of topics, all hilarious and many oddly sweet. Yes, a man talking about the sexes turns into something touching – and I’ll say it, adorable (or whatever the male equivalent of that is).

Kevin Burke, who has been starring in the show since 2003, is so relaxed and just plain comfortable on stage as the evening’s caveman. He has comedic timing some would kill for, and improv skills that are shown early. Burke also tells a bunch of personal stories about him and his wife, Karen, and gives some advice, such as how if your girlfriend or wife has to ask if she looks nice you might as well just give up and go home. Hint to success: Tell her how nice she looks BEFORE she has to ask.

Burke doesn’t dress up like Fred Flintstone (who was half of the first couple to be shown in bed together on primetime television), and he doesn’t drag his knuckles across the stage. But he does spend a lot of time talking about how cavemen were hunters and how cavewomen were gathers; this will make sense as the show goes on, promise. We may have evolved, what with our technology and all, but at the end of the day, some of those basic instincts are still deeply instilled in us.

A funny thing happened at intermission as I glanced at the people around me. A few couples seemed to be talking more intimately than before; there is, after all, a snuggle warning in the program. And there was a group of four women all trying to cram together in a photo – which just shows that these theories discussed on stage constantly make it into the real world.