History Main / TheUnfrozenCaveManLawyer

* The animated series ''MartinMystery'' has a character named Java, a caveman that was frozen in ice for 200,000 years. He works at the titular Martin's high school as a cook and janitor and helps him and his stepsister Diana solve supernatural mysteries for The Center. He's rather wary of technology and has terrible hygiene and grammar, but otherwise has adapted to 20th century life quite well.

Despite the name the character is not necessarily a ContemporaryCaveman. Compare LikeAFishTakesToWater, GoingNative, MightyWhitey, and IKnowMortalKombat; contrast FishOutOfWater and FishOutOfTemporalWater. An UnfazedEveryman may [[CharacterDevelopment grow]] into this. VillainsBlendInBetter is a subtrope. Very like a BunnyEarsLawyer in that they're strange but competent and accepted as such.

->''"Ladies and gentlemen of the City Council, I'm just a caveman... Your world frightens and confuses me. When I see your tall buildings and flashing neon signs, sometimes I just want to get away as fast as I can, to my place in Martha's Vineyard. I'm more at home hunting the woolly mammoth than I am hunting a good interior decorator. And when I see a solar eclipse, like the one I went to in Hawaii last week, I think 'Oh no, is the moon eating the sun?', because I'm a caveman... but there is one thing I do know. The new resort housing development proposed by my partners and myself, will include more than adequate greenbelts for recreation and aesthetic enhancement. Thank you. (smug grin)"''

* Zoey from ''Left4Dead'' was doing poorly in college and spent most of her time watching horror movies about zombies. After the world is overrun with zombies, she is GenreSavvy enough to survive.

* Arthur Dent in TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy is completely out of his depth for nearly all his adventures in space, but eventually tries to settle down on a nice peaceful planet and live a normal life. The people there are primitive, so he hopes to use his comparatively advanced knowledge to aid them, only to realize he has no idea how any earth technology actually works. Getting depressed, he makes himself a sandwich, only to discover that the locals have never seen one before and think it's a stroke of genius. He becomes a highly respected member of the village as a sandwich artisan.

** Zig-Zagged whenever DeathTakesAHoliday; his attempts to engage in non-Death activities will either show him to be extremely competent, or extremely ''in''competent. He gets a job as a cook at a greasy spoon in {{DiscWorld/Mort}} and excels, turns out to be a great farm hand in {{Discworld/ReaperMan}}, and even has success as a beggar in {{Discworld/SoulMusic}} (it's hard to say no to him). But when he turns up on a stage in {{Discworld/WyrdSisters}} he forgets his lines (even though he ''can't'' forget), has middling success standing in for the Disc's equivalent to SantaClaus in {{Discworld/Hogfather}}, and can't learn music to safe his "life".

* John Crichton, star of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has his season-or-so of being a regular FishOutOfWater. However, after that season ends, the series sees John pull stuff that not even the EvilPlan-wielding villains had ever once considered- with the possible exception of [[MagnificentBastard Scorpius]]. And, boy, was he just getting ''started...'' Heavily justified as though every other race is [[PunyEarthlings stronger, faster, tougher, and/or smarter]], Crichton has two little aces up his sleeve; first, he simply doesn't know when he's been beaten; secondly, he is completely and totally '''[[CrazyAwesome batshit insane]].''' By the end of the series, Crichton is willing to strap a nuclear weapon to his hip and stroll right into TheEmpire's most secure facility and blackmail them as part of a rescue mission - '''''[[CrazyEnoughToWork and it works!]]'''''

* Two of the modern characters in MichaelCrichton's ''{{Timeline}}'' ends up living with ease and comfort in Late Medieval France. The first is a marine with an uncanny knack for languages. The second is a history grad student with a passion for all things from his period of study; language, clothes, culture, sports, war... The first insinuates himself into a French court. The second lives his natural span, happily married as an English nobleman.

* One of the ''ChooseYourOwnAdventure'' Books was called ''The Cave of Time'', which, predictably enough, involved time travel. In one of the endings, you're aided in your journey home by a man in colonial America who is dying from TB. Once the two of you return to your time, the guy is cured thanks to modern medicine, becomes a history teacher, and becomes renowned due to his expert knowledge of colonial America.

* Arthur Dent becomes one of these towards the end of ''TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' series, but given the things he's seen by that point it's not surprising that he's desensitized to the bizarre.

* There is a strong case that a female City Elf Warden in ''DragonAge'' was expected to StayInTheKitchen and ended up being a better Grey Warden than Alistair the trained Templar.
* Eddie Rigg of ''BrutalLegend'' not only fits in better than the natives of his new land, his is genuinely shocked they would think he'd want to go home again.

** It doesn't always work in her favor, though. For instance, her father [[ZombieInfectee got bitten]] and, knowing how it turns out in the movies, forced her to [[StakingTheLovedOne shoot him]]. [[spoiler:He was immune.]]

** Similarly, several of the historical personalities in ''BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure''.

* Of course, Cirroc, ''[[TropeNamer the]]'' [[TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer unfrozen caveman lawyer]], from ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''.
** SNL also did a sketch about the 2007-08 OJ Simpson LasVegas assault trial in which even the guy who'd been in an amnesiac coma, the guy stranded on a desert island, and the newly arrived alien knew that OJ was a killer.

* On ''{{Supernatural}}'', when Sam and Dean get sent to prison, Dean adapts to the situation with ease and actually seems to be ''enjoying'' his stay. It gets to the point where Sam asks, "Dean, doesn't it bother you how well you seem to fit in here?"

** It doesn't always work in her favor, though. For instance, her father [[ZombieInfectee got bitten]] and, knowing how it turns out in the movies, forced her to shoot him. [[spoiler:He was immune.]]

* Inversion: "Gorak" from ''SouthPark''. Frozen in the ice nearly 32 months previous; after thawing, was difficult to train in "modern" communication, unable to adapt to "modern" ways, and ultimately moved to Des Moines, Iowa, because they're nearly three years behind everyone else.

** [[CompleteMonster Carcer]] in ''Night Watch'' is thrown through time and adapts with terrifying speed, to the point that he ends up [[spoiler: becoming a secret policeman]].

** Hudson too, once he discovers television.

* An interesting villainous example in LoisAndClark. A time-traveler from the 30th century, a time with no war, crime or poverty, visits the 20th century. He's so enthralled by the violence and vice of the era that decides not only to stay but to try and take it over.

* In ''BattlefieldEarth'' the cave people of 3000 quickly learn how to fly implausibly still functioning Aircraft and beat the psyclo who defeated the real military

* Parson Gotti of ''{{Erfworld}}'', {{Justified}} in that he was specifically summoned in order to be able to adapt rapidly. Also, the spell was supposed to summon someone who would find the place familiar.

* In ''BackToTheFuture'', ''Marty [=McFly=]'' travels through time back to the old west. Despite being only a teenager who has presumably never shot a real gun before, he turns out to be an expert at quickdraw and pistol shooting (once he adjusts to the recoil) because of his [[IKnowMortalKombat familiarity with a video game from 1985]].

[[quoteright:300:[[SaturdayNightLive http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unfrozenCaveLawyer_1040.jpg]]]]

-->--'''Cirroc, The Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer''', ''SaturdayNightLive''

Named for {{SNL}}'s Cirroc, TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer, who slyly manipulated the jury by playing the [[SimpleCountryLawyer "I'm just a caveman"]] card, who wore nice suits, and had a smug charm stereotypical of modern laywers.

* One issue of Marvel's ''What If...?'' comic featured ConanTheBarbarian being stranded in the twentieth century, where he promptly becomes a successful gang leader. This was actually spun out of a story arc from Conan's own comic, where he was sent back to his proper time and place eventually instead.

* In ''EncinoMan'', an unfrozen caveman (played by Creator/BrendanFraser) becomes the most popular kid in school without even trying.

* This is the implied fate of Dr. Gillian Taylor, a whale specialist from the 1980s who essentially bullies her way into going back to the 23rd century with Kirk and company in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''. After Kirk's trial, she takes a post on a science vessel, exclaiming excitedly that she has "three hundred years of catching up to do!" This may be a case of FridgeLogic depending on the nature of the assignment. Unless said [[strike:wessel]] vessel is an ocean ship, it would be more than a bit odd that her first act be to ship off and leave the ''whales'' to fend for themselves, especially considering that she'd justified coming along with them by the fact that no one in the 23rd century would know anything about taking care of ''whales''.

* In BattlefieldEarth the cave people of 3000 quickly learn how to fly implausibly still functioning Aircraft and beat the psyclo who defeated the real military

* Of course, Cirroc, ''[[TropeNamer the]]'' [[TheUnfrozenCavemanLawyer unfrozen caveman lawyer]], from ''[[SaturdayNightLive SNL]]''.

* Fry from ''{{Futurama}}'', who went from completely freaked out and dumbstruck by the future to almost ''too'' comfortable in 3000 A.D.

-->'''Fry:''' Oh, it's just a flying saucer. ''You can't park here!''