Ubu Productions, Inc., is an independent production company

Production company

A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...

 founded in 1982 by television producer

Television producer

The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 Gary David Goldberg

Gary David Goldberg

Gary David Goldberg is a United States writer and producer for television and film. Goldberg is best known for his work on Family Ties , Spin City , and his semi-autobiographical series Brooklyn Bridge .-Background:Gary David Goldberg was born on June 25, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of...

. Ubu's notable productions include Family Ties

Family Ties

Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...

(1982–1989), Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge (TV series)

Brooklyn Bridge is an American television program which aired on CBS between 1991 and 1993. It is about a Jewish American family living in Brooklyn in the middle 1950s...

(1991–1993) , and Spin City

Spin City

Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike...

(1996–2002).

Ubu co-produced many of its shows with Paramount Television

Paramount Television

Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS Paramount Television...

 and in later years, DreamWorks Television

DreamWorks Television

DreamWorks Television is a television distribution and production company that is a division of DreamWorks SKG, a former subsidiary of Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures. The syndication rights to DreamWorks' live-action TV series were held by CBS Television Distribution until fall 2008, the successor...

.

Mascot dog

Ubu's mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

 is Goldberg's dog Ubu Roi, a black labrador retriever

Labrador Retriever

The Labrador Retriever is one of several kinds of retriever, a type of gun dog. A breed characteristic is webbed paws for swimming, useful for the breed's original purpose of retrieving fishing nets. The Labrador is the most popular breed of dog by registered ownership in Canada, the United...

 which he had in college and subsequently traveled the world with. The closing tag for Ubu's productions is a photograph of Ubu Roi with a flying disc in his mouth, taken in the Tuileries Garden close to the Louvre Museum in Paris. Along with the picture is Goldberg's voice saying "Sit, Ubu, sit! ...Good dog!", followed by the sound of a bark. The dog was named after Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi

Ubu Roi is a play by Alfred Jarry, premiered in 1896. It is a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd and Surrealism. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed, and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the...

, an 1896 play by Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....

 that is considered a precursor to the Theatre of the Absurd

Theatre of the Absurd

The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work...

. Ubu the dog died in 1984.

In popular culture

The sequence was referenced and parodied in pop culture: for instance, in the Family Guy

Family Guy

Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

episode "Running Mates" (2000), Peter Griffin

Peter Griffin

Peter Griffin is a fictional character and the protagonist of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the patriarch of the Griffin family. He is voiced by cartoonist Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family in the 15-minute short on December 20, 1998....

, after saying the opening theme of The Facts of Life

The Facts of Life (TV series)

The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...

as his opening statement, says the line "Sit, Ubu, sit! ...Good dog!"; and in the Robot Chicken

Robot Chicken

Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...

episode "Easter Basket" (2006), in the skit "Bad Dog" after the end credits, Seth Green

Seth Green

Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...

 says the line "Sit, Ubu, sit! ...Bad dog!", followed by the sound of a gunshot and a dog whimper. In the television series Dharma & Greg

Dharma & Greg

Dharma & Greg is an American television sitcom that aired from September 24, 1997, to April 30, 2002.It starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma and Greg Montgomery, a couple who married instantly on their first date despite being complete opposites...

, producer and show co-creator Chuck Lorre

Chuck Lorre

Chuck Lorre is a writer, director, producer and composer who has created many American sitcoms, including Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory...

 ended each episode with a briefly shown "vanity card" really only visible by recording the program and then pausing the playback in order to read it. With vanity card #7, shown at the end of Dharma & Greg episode "Dharma's Tangled Web" (1998), Lorre references the sequence "Sit, Ubu, sit" as a possible explanation for the secret of life.
In a 2010 episode of the cartoon Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Batman: The Brave and the Bold is an American animated television series based in part on the DC Comics series The Brave and the Bold which features two or more super heroes coming together to solve a crime or foil a super villain...

, Batman

Batman

Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...

's sidekick, Robin

Robin (comics)

Robin is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero Batman...

, overcomes Ras al Ghul's head henchman, Ubu, and utters the line "Sit, Ubu. Sit". In a 2010 episode of Psych

Psych

Psych is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks and broadcast on USA Network. It stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened observational skills" and impressive detective instincts...

a character played by Mena Suvari

Mena Suvari

Mena Alexandra Suvari is an American actress, fashion designer, and model. Shortly after beginning her career as a model, she appeared in guest roles on 1990's television shows such as Boy Meets World and High Incident...

 said "Sit Ubu Sit" while holding the main characters Shawn and Gus hostage. The March 1, 2011 episode of Tosh.0

Tosh.0

Tosh.0 is an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides sarcastic commentary on online video clips, society, celebrities, and other parts of popular culture.-History:...

closed with Daniel Tosh

Daniel Tosh

Daniel Dwight Tosh is an American stand-up comedian and host of the Comedy Central television show, Tosh.0.-Personal life:...

 saying "Sit, Ubu, sit. Good dog.". In the 1990s, the animated comedy show Animaniacs

Animaniacs

Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...

would always close their episodes with zingers after displaying the ending credits. One bit featured The Warner Bros. (and sister) closing by saying "Sit Ubu, sit."

Goldberg's 2008 autobiography was titled, Sit, Ubu, Sit: How I Went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the Same Woman, the Same Dog, and a Lot Less Hair.