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Bubba Higgins is a fictional character in the television situation comedy, Mama's Family. He is played by Allan Kayser.

Character overview

Bubba was the son of Ed and Eunice Higgins. Some time prior to his first appearance, he had stolen a car, and was sent to juvenile hall. Which was no surprise, given that his mother was often contentious and very selfish. Another example of her selfishness was when she decided that she couldn't even make it for her son's graduation.

To his shock, he was let out of Juvenile Hall on good behavior, and went home, and found out that it was locked up tight. Then he was told that his parents had basically left him in Raytown while they went off to Florida. This characteristically selfish act of Eunice's was enough to incur the wrath of her mother, Thelma Harper, who swore that she would kill Eunice for leaving Bubba in Raytown, and also for missing her own son's graduation.

Bubba was quite a switch from Vinton "Buzz" Harper, Jr., his cousin. Whereas Buzz was patient, and easy to get along with, Bubba was a lot like his mother. He wasn't as selfish as she was, but he was temperamental and stubborn. He was also very girl-crazy, something that his grandmother couldn't understand. One time, she found a porno magazine in his bedroom, and she formed MOP (Mothers Opposing Pornography) to quash that.

Bubba's two best friends were a duo named Dwayne and T-Boy, obviously guys he knew from his days in Juvenile Hall. Thelma thoroughly disliked the two from the outset, and often forbade Bubba from hanging out with them, but he usually wound up doing so and angering her in the process.

When he first arrived, he didn't win any favor with his uncle Vinton and aunt Naomi Harper, when he got the prized bedroom that was left open when Thelma's sister, Fran Crowley died. Thelma had indeed promised him his own room. They had wanted that room, and were angered that Bubba got it, promise or no promise. They remained, under protest, in the basement.

Bubba nearly caused a serious breach in his relationship with his grandmother, when he came home drunk on a few beers. It hurt Thelma to see Bubba drunk and it reminded her all too clearly of the first time Eunice drank. During a mother-daughter banquet, where Eunice and Thelma were supposed to sing "MOTHER", they instead got into a violent argument about all the things that her mother had thought she had done, and wrecked. That was why Thelma was so strident against drinking. Iola had told Bubba, Vint and Naomi the story the day after Bubba's drinking incident and he tearfully apologized to Thelma, telling her she was the last person in the world he ever wanted to hurt. Thelma happily accepted and Bubba swore off drinking from that point on. During a sarcastic remark, Thelma tells Bubba that the only beer he'll be drinking is rootbeer.

Although he regularly drives his family crazy, they truly do love Bubba. He got through his probation, and started to attend junior college, by this time, he did break away from Dwayne and T-Boy. He was also instrumental in saving his grandmother's home, when he discovered that the house was a former brothel that the founder of Raytown had died in. This made the house he lived in a Raytown Historical landmark.