Las Vegas Weekly

October 16, 2008 · 12:29 PM

Hardest-working star in town juggles two shows 16 times a week

By Robin Leach

Caveman star Kevin Burke must be super human! Every afternoon at 5:45 p.m. as a diabetic he has to check his blood sugar levels – so he doesn’t crash down for what lies ahead! He’s literally become the "hardest working star" in Vegas performing 16 shows a week!

Kevin races from when the curtain comes down at Defending the Caveman at the Golden Nugget to when the curtain goes up at Fitz of Comedy at the Fitzgerald’s hotel downtown. Both shows are produced by John Bentham who commented: “We’ll get him a golf cart if it gets to be a real problem. We’ve also got an opening comedy act for him and Rolan Whitt can stall a few extra moments if necessary until Kevin arrives!"

It's fine for now because they’re literally a five-minute sprint away from each other. But when entertainer Gordy Brown takes back his Golden Nugget showroom in the new year, Kevin will be dashing by car from the Strip to the second theater! It gives him the opportunity to perform the scripted show eight times a week and then fall into free-form improv comedy for the other eight shows a week!

Photo: TVT

Mayor Oscar Goodman and Kevin Burke.

Here’s my exclusive interview with the comedy actor:

RL: Don’t you have enough work just with the hit Caveman show?

KB: No. I was 15 years getting here, so I am going to squeeze every drop out.

RL: Physically, how do you do that?

KB: I have three telephones with different alarm reminders of where and when I have to be. My biggest fear is that I will walk out of the Nugget one night, forget about the other show, get half way home and someone calls and says ‘don’t you have a show to do’?

RL: How do you guard against that? You come off stage from the one-man production, then you change your brain, change your mindset, in fact change everything and go do stand up.

KB: When you say change brain, you are assuming I have a brain to begin with. The “caveman" script is in my bones at this point. I could wake up from a cold sleep and do it instantly without thinking. I wrote my new comedy show so it has always been in there in the back of mind tucked away. My only actor prep for “caveman” is that I clear my throat and say "let's go." That’s been six years now. It is one of the best things about author and director Rob Becker as a director. He directed me in the show toward my strengths and personality. It is not playing “The Phantom” or a role like that. Rob re-tooled this to fit me, so it is not that big of a change going from “caveman” to me.

RL: I do know that when you physically finish Caveman, you are wired and it takes awhile to come down. Is it the run through the downtown streets to the next show that brings you back down?

KB: Actually no, I am still high as a kite, from Caveman and when I get over to Fitzgerald’s, I go onstage the second I get there. Caveman ends at 9:07 and I am onstage at Fitzgerald’s about 9:13. I haven’t measured how far that is yet but I do know when I start the final scene of Caveman

Photo: TVT

Robin Leach and Kevin Burke with cavewomen.

I am 15 minutes away from being ready to go at Fitzgerald’s. I have an opening act to warm that crowd up so he could always stretch if Caveman runs a little late.

RL: Talk to me about the distance between the Nugget and Fitzgerald’s.

KB: It is walkable. I walk out of valet at the Nugget, walk down Carson Street, past the Four Queens and then Fitzgerald’s is there. We figured the start time at Fitzgerald’s based on how long it took me to get there during some dry’ walks’.

RL: What could go wrong?

KB: I could get hit by a taxi? OJ could get loose -- he’s down there and the police would block everything. I only have to get over one street with traffic lights. I go the back way around Fremont Street because I’d never make it through the crowds walking there. When I first started I made the mistake of going through Fremont with my props and I had to elbow my way through the crowd at Third Street.

RL: Are you doubly exhausted at the end, or doubly on a high?

KB: I would say the latter, and I am surprised. Everyone thought I would be wiped out at the end of an evening, but putting my show in a showroom form for Vegas has proven to be creatively stimulating. It brings my energy level right up. Yesterday and today though are the first six-pack days – a matinee plus an evening show each in both theaters of going back and forth. I feel great about it though. I got up at 9 a.m., did some writing, had something to eat and at 1 p.m. left for the first show at the Nugget. I met with my producer went over some advertising materials and then performed the first caveman show at 3 p.m. There’s no intermission so I was off-stage at exactly 4:07 p.m. We were both a little concerned how my voice would hold out for all the shows but it worked fine, immediately had a working dinner with our producer, talked some business and then took a nap. I have a big comfy couch in my dressing room. So I slept from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., got up and started getting ready for the second show, did that one and then raced to the Fitz. We ran a little late because we were at near capacity. Normally I’d have done a "meet and greet" but there wasn’t time for that and to get to the Fitz. Curtain up at the Fitz is at 9:13 p.m. The oddball time is not just to make it stand out and people notice it but it accommodates my dash through the streets. Roland Whitt goes on for five to 10 minutes. So I have to be there by 9:25 p.m. If there is any ‘Caveman’ reason I can’t be there I would call the Fitz and tell them to give Roland the stretch sign.

RL: With this insane schedule Kevin Burke cannot afford to even a cold right now. Incidentally have you ever missed a day?

KB: I have missed one day in 20 years of work and that was because the Valentine’s Day snowstorm of 1988 closed the highway in front of me and there was nowhere to go. In fact in Caveman one night, I got hit with a kidney stone that was pretty painful so I did the last 15 minutes leaning on the TV to help ease the pain.

RL: So you love what you do, living in Las Vegas and doubling a heavy workload. Where do you want this to wind up?

KB: I would be happy staying here in Vegas and doing both of these shows until I drop dead of a heart attack, or retire. I hope I am a long way from a heart attack and a long way from retirement too. Nice thing is I have already started losing some weight from this insane schedule.

RL: Where is time in the day for gym and a workout?

KB: I have to do all my working out on stage. My metabolism goes a million miles an hour. We’re only four days into this so check back with me in a month for any mishaps - but so far so good. The real problem though will surface when we move ‘caveman’ from the Golden Nugget on Jan. 18 to make way for Gordie Brown’s return. We’re moving to the Strip – so I’ll have two choices then. I can either move the start time at the Fitz to 9:33 p.m. or ask Mayor Oscar Goodman for a police escort to race downtown!

Kevin and John will announce their move to the new Strip location at the end of the year!

— From Vegas Deluxe

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