Comedian Kevin Burke with a spear over his head.

Kevin Burke is an entertainer, who in an odd way, helps bring men and women closer together.

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Burke appeared Friday and Saturday at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville.

Burke is a busy man, traveling all over the country with his “Defending the Caveman,” which is performed on a regular basis at Harrah’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He gave Riverbender.com an interview about some of his travels. The reception of the Valentine’s Day weekend audiences was typical of what Burke receives all over the country. He was happy to come to the Edwardsville area.

“It’s a wonderful show to see over the Valentine’s Day weekend,” Burke said of his ‘Defending the Caveman.’ Couples sit in the crowd and the wife will say, ‘yes, that’s you,’ and the husband will say, ‘yes that is you.’ There is something for everybody to relate to in the audience.”

Burke gets great pleasure knowing in his own comedic way he may help bridge some differences between couples. Wildey Theatre’s Al Canal said he felt lucky to have a man with such talent grace  the historic Edwardsville stage.

Burke thought back to his last time in the area and it was when he performed at the Comedy Club in Collinsville. He said he took a great liking to the area when he last appeared here.

“I worked here several times in the late 1990s and also appeared at The Funny Bone in St. Louis.

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He viewed his Valentine’s Day shows at Wildey Theatre as special.

“Valentine’s Day is one of the days’ most couples look forward to,” he said. “The show here goes back to caveman times when men and women had different jobs and were able to survive. Men were hunters and women were gatherers. A hunter is very quiet. Women speak on an average of 7,000 words per day. Men average 2,000 words a day. There is a science behind the show.”

Speaking to the male population, he said, “Think about it, when you received your last text message from your wife, did you respond or how did you respond in terms of words? I am guessing the woman had more words in her text message. A woman spends a lot more time crafting and writing her text messages.”

In 2011 and 2012, Burke was a host of the Academy Awards. He has been Entertainer of the Year in Las Vegas.

The comedian didn’t always have his financial blessings. He crisscrossed America in his younger years, living check to check and attempting to be discovered. Before the discovery he had a lot of trials and tribulations, many which are fond memories for Burke. It wasn’t until he was awarded a $10,000 grand prize for ABC’s Funniest People that he was completely introduced to people throughout the country.  Al Canal of the Wildey and Burke have the deepest respect for one another.

“I have known Al for 25 years,” Burke said. “The interesting thing about Al from a performer’s standpoint is he is a very generous and caring guy who wants you to do the best performance you can in the best possible performing environment. That is another reason to perform at the theater.” Kevin is a man who knows the value of love. He has been happily married to his wife, Karen, for 20 years.

“We have two kids one 11 and another, a 14-year-old,” he said.

It sounds like Burke plans to keep up the Caveman show and said the cool thing about the production is no one gets bashed and neither side is right or wrong.

“Men and women are just different,” he said.

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