When I worked at Ubu Productions, we were told that Ubu meant underdog in
Latin. When Dr. Diana Meehan-Goldberg (Gary David Goldburg's
wife) started an all-woman production company in 1990, she named it
Vox Uburis for "voice of the underdog".
The word Ubu is not listed in one
dictionary, Latin or otherwise that I have been able to find. The first use seems to be
Alfred Jarry's
Ubu Plays of the late 19th century, where the character of
Pa Ubu is anything but an
underdog.
Ubu was the name of
Gary David Goldberg's
black Labrador retriever. The photograph at the end credits of all Ubu Productions' shows (
Family Ties,
Spin City,
Brooklyn Bridge, and
American Dreamer are a few) is of Ubu in front of the Louvre museum in Paris. The
voice saying "
Sit Ubu, sit! Good dog." also belongs to Mr. Goldberg.
Ubu died a long time ago but his memory shall live on at the end of
stupid sitcoms for generations in
syndication.
Incidentally,
Shana Goldberg-Meehan is the daughter of Diana and Gary. Look for her credit on
Friends as a producer/writer.