The Lizard Brain Variety Hour

The Lizard Brain Variety Hour is a collection of original monologues, short theater pieces, recordings, music and original dance, structured like an old-fashioned variety show. The LBVH was written by Lucas Peltonen, who had a high school history teacher named Mr. Burson. While they certainly had their differences, Mr. Burson was a great influence on Lucas’ life. He was a gifted teacher, full of wisdom mixed in with real-life observations and experiences. While Mr. Burson spoke at length about the human intellect and how tremendously it had developed, he was also a Vietnam Veteran. As such, Mr. Burson felt that he had witnessed up close the other side of human nature: The primal urges toward violence and sex and survival that had not been conquered by the intellect. He called this primal part of the human brain, the “Lizard Brain.”