The Untold Truth Of The Geico Caveman
Geico car insurance wasn't always a gecko's game. The insurance company's successful — if strange — Caveman campaign once ruled TV screens, for better or worse. The Caveman Geico Commercials started their run in 2004. "The Sopranos" was in the middle of its run. "Shrek 2" was the highest-grossing film of the year. Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" just introduced audiences to Doctor Octopus. And in this same pop culture era, a bunch of sophisticated cavemen were about to get very frustrated about Geico treating them like — well — a bunch of Neanderthals.
From the Allstate Mayhem commercials to the many characters holding down Progressive commercials, car insurance commercials have always been a blank canvas that advertising agencies are eager to paint with their own bizarre brushes. We know it's saying something, but these Neanderthal commercials might be the most bizarre of them all. So let's get weird and dig behind the cavemen, campaign, and catchphrase to learn the untold truth of the Geico cavemen.
The cavemen were inspired by a George Saunders story
The Geico Caveman campaign catchphrase "So easy, a caveman could do it" seems like a stroke of advertising genius. It's simple, it's welcoming, and designed to help people be less afraid of getting their own rate quotes online. Of course, it's also this exact catchphrase that emotionally destroys all of the evolved cavemen in each ad. It's an ironic twist worthy of a wry novel, and no wonder — the Geico cavemen have a surprisingly literary origin story.
The cavemen are the brainchildren of Noel Ritter and Joe Lawson, who worked together at The Martin Agency. Ritter told podcast host Starlee Kline on an episode of "99 Percent Invisible" that he came up with the idea of the cavemen while reading a short story called "Pastoralia" by George Saunders. The story follows the daily activities of an actor playing the part of a caveman in an unpopular theme park.
Ritter was intrigued by the short story juxtaposing the old with the new. When he and his team were stumped on what new character could fit the Geico campaign, the notion jumped out at him during a brainstorming session. He tells Kline: "All of a sudden, I'm like, 'Wait a second! These cavemen from the Saunders book, that's perfect!' And the whole slogan came to me fully formed: 'It's so easy, a caveman can do it.'" See? All it takes to come up with a mega-successful car insurance commercial campaign is reading a short story by the guy who wrote "Lincoln in the Bardo." So easy, a caveman could do it!
The cavemen commercials were supposed to be a riff on political correctness
The Geico cavemen are sophisticated, intelligent beings despite their Neanderthal looks. Every Geico caveman bristles against the public assumption that cavemen are simple-minded fools. And who could blame them? The cavemen are, in fact, a lot classier than their Homo sapiens counterparts.
Even if you totally understand where the cavemen are coming from, the joke is supposed to be about their sensitivity. Really. "People seem to feel victimized in some way no matter who they are, and that's reflected in the ad," Joe Lawson told Esquire in a 2007 interview. He further explains in an interview with his alma mater, Wake Forest University: "We were just sort of fed up with how politically correct the culture had become and how difficult that made it to do our jobs well. So we insulted cavemen, just to get it out of our system."
The subtle commentary on "political correctness" plays humorously in some of the ads, though it makes some of them unsettling to watch today. The cavemen eat at fine restaurants, play tennis, and have the verbal skills of Yale and Harvard grads showing off at a cocktail party. Still, Geico — and the media, as portrayed in the ads — treat them like they're no smarter than the wooly mammoths they once hunted. Being a caveman in the modern world is a tough break.
Tony Gardner designed the caveman look
The Geico cavemen have an iconic look, and no wonder. Their style was designed by an icon in his own right. Tony Gardner and his company, Alterian Inc., are behind some of the most memorable special effects makeup, animatronic, and prosthetic designs in movies and TV. He is also responsible for the history-museum-diorama come-to-life look of the Geico cavemen.
Gardner began his career in makeup under the equally legendary Rick Baker for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video. He kicked off his own career by designing makeup for horror classic "The Blob." Since then, Gardner and Alterian have created special effects looks for movies and shows like "Zombieland," "Chucky," "Happy Death Day," and "127 Hours." Gardner and his team even created the legendary robot helmet look for the electronic music dream team Daft Punk.
While Gardner has been in the special effects makeup game for decades, he wasn't always aware the Geico cavemen would be. "'Chucky' was already a 20-year franchise, but none of us expected that the Daft Punk robots and the Geico cavemen would have the same lasting impact — or transcend it," he told KTLA. "Nor did we expect that we'd remain involved with all the same projects and people over the decades to come." Gardner even stayed involved with the Geico cavemen when they jumped from their commercial format into brand new comedy frontiers.
The cavemen had their own sitcom
Before "Ted Lasso" was the highest-profile TV series based on an advertisement, there was "Cavemen," an ABC sitcom inspired by the Geico cavemen commercials. The short-lived sitcom made its TV debut in 2007.
Screenwriter Joe Lawson described the show to Wake Forest University Magazine as "Three twenty-something cavemen set out to achieve their dreams in modern-day San Diego." He also added, "The show has nothing to do with GEICO other than the fact that they had cavemen in their commercials and we have cavemen in our show. GEICO has no creative input and is never mentioned."
The sitcom starred a very early-career Nick Kroll as caveman and school teacher Nick Hedge. Though the show was canceled fairly quickly after its debut, Kroll clearly got a lot out of the experience. "I made amazing friends both in front of and behind the camera and I realized, without a doubt, that comedic acting was what I wanted to do with my life," Kroll wrote on his Tumblr in 2009. Jeff Daniel Phillips, one of the Geico cavemen from the commercials, also appeared in "Cavemen." The series was directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, the same team who directed a 2007 smash hit comedy: "Blades of Glory."
The sitcom was highly controversial ...
Perhaps unsurprisingly, a show that supposedly poked fun at the idea of self-imposed victimhood did not fare very well. "Cavemen" made its television debut in October 2007 and was canceled after one season. Not all of its episodes made it to air, and the show never made it to DVD — as the staff of 2008-era Vulture lamented.
While the 2007 WGA Writers' Strike did upend some airing schedules, it seems the issues with "Cavemen" stemmed mostly from response to its scripts — and the audacity of its producers. A 2007 ABC press release (archived via TheFutonCritic.com) about "Cavemen" describes the show as a "unique buddy comedy that offers a clever twist on stereotypes and turns race relations on their head." This, from a largely white creative team, did not go over well.
2007 Entertainment Weekly coverage of the "Cavemen" pilot sent to critics highlighted how the show seemed to be equating the cavemen with minorities in uncomfortable ways. This resulted in a lot of panicked commentary from the producers, who repeatedly insisted that the racial stereotyping and any issues-based comedy was not their intention. "Unfortunately, in our society, if you pick an offensive stereotype of any kind, it's going to bump up into some ethnic group. It's going to happen," executive producer Mike Schiff told Entertainment Weekly at the time. Producers reworked and reshot the original unaired pilot episode before airing the final version.
... And it got skewered by critics
While the Geico cavemen were a hit for Geico commercials, they were absolutely dead in the water when it came to their own TV sitcom. In fact, many critics panned the show as one of the worst ever made. Literally — the Chicago Tribune listed it as one of the 25 Worst TV Shows Ever.
"Even without the question of racial divisiveness, 'Cavemen' has very little going for it," said Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe. The New York Post's Austin Smith, who loved the unaired pilot, ultimately decried the new version, saying: "I'm not sure what went wrong in the process of adapting the Geico commercials for a 30-minute sitcom, but I thought it would be easy — so easy, in fact, that a caveman could have done it."
Even the positive reviews of "Cavemen" weren't so great. Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote in The Wall Street Journal: "It ought to be said that this strange slice of life about three male cavepersons making their way in the workaday world has its charms. ... The chief source of that charm is the unmistakable hint of wit in the writing." Despite the lackluster reception, "Cavemen" star Nick Kroll still has a soft spot for the show. "Beloved commercials, despised show," Kroll told Ben Mankiewicz (via CBSNews) in 2023. "I still stand by it. I'm like, 'That's as funny as any other show.'"
The cavemen starred in a 3 Doors Down music video
The early 2000s were a wild pop cultural time. Crossover events were a craze, and the word "synergy" haunted the halls of major advertising agencies. With music-forward shows like "Gossip Girl" and "The O.C.," band cameos were around every corner. No media was safe from creatively partnering with a seemingly random band — not even the Geico cavemen.
A failed TV show wasn't about to get the usually-bummed cavemen down, nor stop their Geico campaign. In fact, opportunity would keep knocking on the Geico caveman's door — or third door, as it were. In 2008, the Geico cavemen starred in the music video for "Let Me Be Myself" by 3 Doors Down.
The video follows the cavemen catching all kinds of flak from the Homo sapiens around them, until finally, the cave-gang unites for some bowling. The Martin Agency, the ad company behind the Geico cavemen, cooked up the plan — and industry magazine AdWeek even covered the partnership with childlike glee. The music video was split into two 30-second commercials. The commercial version ends with the cavemen seeing a Geico-branded pinsetter emblazoned with their hated cavemen catchphrase. The real music video ends, letting the cavemen bowl in a Geico-free safe space.
Geico's cavemen teamed up with the Deadliest Catch crew
In 2010, the Geico cavemen commercials evolved into a partnership with the hardcore fishing reality show "Deadliest Catch." The series of spots features the caveman (McManus Woodend) crashing the F/V Time Bandit crab boat. Odd-couple comedy ensues between the very particular Geico Caveman and the seasoned sailor Hillstrand brothers.
The caveman has packed an entire matching set of luggage in one spot and is looking for the "Deadliest Catch" boys to send someone to fetch his bags while he gets himself a cappuccino. In "Cook," possibly the funniest ad in the bunch, the caveman plates a bunch of appetizers and barks that he still needs a garnish.
The spots insist "not everyone can make it on a crab boat" — but that Geico is so easy, "even he can do it" — "he" being the caveman. It's a clever twist that focuses more on the fussy, perfectionist, overcomplicated nature of the caveman rather than the fact that he is, well, a caveman.
The cavemen have a great TV connection
Even if the "Cavemen" sitcom was a problematic flop, the screenwriter — and original Geico caveman creator and copywriter, Joe Lawson — went on to true TV greatness.
Lawson left the cave creatures behind to become a writer, producer, and executive producer for many beloved TV shows. He wrote for "Modern Family" and "BoJack Horseman," including a WGA award-winning episode of "BoJack," Season 3's "Stop the Presses."
Lawson has also written for "This Is Us," "Jane the Virgin," and "Shameless." He wrote the "Poker Face" episode "The Future of the Sport" — starring Tim Blake Nelson and Charles Melton. It isn't every day somebody climbs out of the advertising world and into Hollywood, especially after such a spectacular sitcom failure at the start of his career. We have the feeling the Geico cavemen Lawson helped create would be a little proud — or at least willing to sass Lawson about being a misunderstood diamond in the rough, just like they have been for so many years.
One Geico caveman is a real monster
Actor Jeff Daniel Phillips cut his oversize teeth playing one of the original Geico cavemen, in both the commercials and the "Cavemen" TV series. Clearly, his experience doing grounded and comedic acting under a ton of prosthetics prepared him for a career under more masks as well as in genre movies and TV.
Phillips stars as legendary TV dad Herman Munster in Rob Zombie's ill-reviewed 2022 movie adaptation, "The Munsters." Despite spending hours getting in and out of makeup for the monstrously funny role, Phillips told Film Stories that acting in makeup is about pretending you're not in makeup, saying, "The more you come to life, people get lost in it and it becomes more the character. In my experience, anyway."
In addition to his heavily made-up roles, Phillips has regularly worked as an actor since his caveman days. He's appeared in shows like "Westworld," "The Gifted," "Flaked," and "Claws," to name a few. Not bad for a caveman.
One caveman later starred in Sex and the City
One Geico caveman is a TV icon twice over. Actor Ben Weber played one of the original Geico cavemen in the commercials. Though he wasn't on "Cavemen," Weber did star in another infamous TV show: "Sex and the City."
Weber played Skipper, Carrie's friend — and Miranda's boyfriend — in Seasons 1 and 2 of the hit HBO series. Skipper was sweet, funny, and a hopeless romantic, at least when it came to Miranda. Though his role was written off the show along with a few of the early conventions of "Sex and the City" like directly addressing the camera, Skipper is still fondly remembered by fans and pop culture publications all these years later.
In one such Skipper appreciation piece by Entertainment Weekly, Weber compared the freshness and uncertainty of appearing on "Sex and the City" in the early days with another early role. "I kind of had that experience a little bit later in the commercial world when I did the original Geico Caveman commercial campaign," Weber told EW. "That was sort of a similar experience in that we were not really expecting it to break out." We bet Weber's Geico caveman character would actually appreciate "Sex and the City." And a Magnolia cupcake paired with a cosmo after a hard day.
One caveman became a professor
Actor McManus Woodend became the hairy face of the Geico caveman campaign later in the run and hit his stride with the "Deadliest Catch" crossover commercials. Originally hired to play the caveman at live events, Woodend is a comedic natural on camera.
While he has been in many Geico commercials, Woodend now spends much of his time as a professor at the University of Southern Indiana. "It's weird to be this part of pop culture, but not recognizable at all," he told the university, adding, "It was a really fun thing to do, and if asked to do it again, I would in a heartbeat. And it led me to being where I needed to be, which is higher education."
Before he even got his caveman role, Woodend studied as part of the David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts and even made his own feature film, "Rocksteppy," which he co-directed and co-wrote with Jake Dilley. At the University of Southern Indiana, he now teaches writing and composition.
The original caveman is a successful comedy writer
Comedic actor John Lehr goes all the way back to the beginning of the Geico caveman campaign. He's the caveman with the boom mic in the very first commercial and has stuck with comedic performance and writing ever since.
He stars on the narrative comedy podcast "Flula Makes Five" with Flula Borg. Lehr has also co-created, written, performed, and produced on TBS' semi-improvised grocery store comedy "10 Items or Less" and Hulu's improvised Western comedy, "Quick Draw."
Improv and comedy have always been a big part of Lehr's life. "They let me improvise, so I get to do what I want. It's a sweet gig," Lehr told his alma mater, Northwestern, about his work on the Geico caveman commercials, and he added that in the therapy commercial with Talia Shire, he improvised the line "My mother's calling. I'll put it on speaker." Lehr further puts his comedy skills to use when speaking about recovery, as part of his "Cold Sober Comedy" act.
The cavemen rise again
Twenty years after the initial Geico caveman commercials' peak success, the Neanderthal made his return in a 2023 ad called "The Caveman Returns: The Nightmare." In it, the caveman (Jeff Daniel Phillips) grapples with Geico reaching out to ask him to be part of a documentary. In a follow-up commercial, the caveman and his wife, Tina (Annie Sertich), watch a commercial for the documentary — only to realize it focuses only on the Geico Gecko.
The ads are even more emotionally grounded and grim than ever — and hilarious, if you like that sort of thing. The Martin Agency has promised more caveman commercials on the horizon, with Creative Director Graham Unterberger telling Muse by Clio, "The simplest answer is, the caveman was and forever will be Geico's original avatar for 'ease.' ... The long answer is a lot longer. Much of which will be revealed in the coming months."
What does this mean for the Geico cavemen in pop culture? Based on new Geico-branded Caveman profiles on Instagram and TikTok, it seems to be proof that you really can't keep a caveman down.