Geico commercial named “The Caveman” was aired for the first time in 2004. John lehr appeared in the commercial and became famous thereafter.
When he appeared for the first time in the commercial he was dressed as a Caveman, with his rough-looking appearance, crookedteeth, dirty hair, a creased forehead, and Neanderthalish look placed him in the spotlight. It helped him get known as well as some money in his account.
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He told Interviewing Hollywood, “It’s the perfect job for somebody like me, a character actor because I make a lot of money on these commercials and nobody knows it’s me. It kind of fits with my sense of humor, in that it’s kind of, you play it for real but it’s absurd, which is my cup of tea. And it worked out.”
“I’m stunned…I mean, it’s huge! My wife just recently googledGEICO caveman blogs, and it’s unbelievable,” he added. There’s a whole bunch of people out there who are fascinated with these commercials.”
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Along the line being the caveman was complicated for John as he needed a lot of makeup and other Improvisation as he needed to be hairy.
Lehr explained, “I just lay there and let them glue stuff on me. It doesn’t bother me. I mean, after about eight hours, all you’re thinking about is, ‘Let’s get it off!’. It’s a weird experience. You have to go to a zen kind of place.
The only part of me that was me was my eyes. Everything else is not me. It’s the greatest job ever because you get to be a spokesperson for a product, but nobody knows it’s you, so you don’t get pigeon-holed. I ended up shooting over twenty-five national spots, which is just unheard of. It was just this phenomenon.”
There was a sitcom series in 2007, the caveman and it was based on the character. It wasn’t a hit and John Lehr wasn’t on the sitcom either.
Appearing in the Geico commercials changed his life in ways he couldn’t imagine. He made an appearance at the Oscars and also went on to work with other brands.
He recalled in an interview with Forbes, “They sent me to the Oscars in full makeup and cast a babe model to be my date on the Red Carpe. The funny thing was that all the stars wanted to take pictures with me.
Gary Busey, John Voight, all of them. And this gorgeous actress comes up and starts hitting on me. I drop character and say, ‘You realize I’m not a caveman. I’m an actor with hair glued on, and I’m married. She goes, ‘I don’t care. Let’s have sex.’”
Today, he lives with his children and wife, Jennifer who he tied the knot in the early 2000s.
