THE FAMILY (SKETCH)

'''The Family''' was a popular sketch comedy from The Carol Burnett Show, which featured Vicki Lawrence as mama (aka Thelma Harper), Carol Burnett as Eunice Higgins, and Harvey Korman, as Ed Higgins. The comedy sketch from the Carol Burnett Show grew so popular, that it spun-off into the popular series, Mama's Family, which first aired on NBC, and then on CBS, in yet another renewed version of the show.

Contents

Premise

Characters

Premise

Unlike Mama's Family, the central character of The Family sketches was Eunice Higgins. The sketches were about a noisy, bickering family. As if the marriage between Eunice and Ed Higgins wasn't bad enough, they had Eunice's mama living with them. This only added to the turbulence and commotion. It was stated many times that Eunice and Ed also had a young son named, Bubba Higgins, that was never shown on the Family sketches. Bubba Higgins made his first appearance in the renewed CBS version of the show. In The Family, the three characters often have serious, uproarious verbal wars over such petty issues, as board games, how much butter has been used for the bread, what exactly happened 30 or 40 years ago, etc. The three characters do not respect each other at all. At the few short moments, when it seems they are verging on getting a long, one of them will pick a fight with the other, causing all of them to start bickering at the same time.

Characters

Although the same characters were played on the Family, as Mama's Family, their characters were markedly different as between the two shows.

★ 'Eunice Higgins' - As the daughter of Mama and the husband of Ed, Eunice is a very stormy, irrepressible character, full of histrionics and powerful emotions. Cheerful and high-spirited at one moment, and out of control in the next, Eunice is very temperamental. It doesn't take much for her to snap at her mother, and especially her husband, Ed. She's very ambitious and both wishes and tries to become an actor to make something of herself. She'll do anything to get away from what she percieves as a nightmare, living with her husband and mother. Her trying to make anything out of her self is only reacted to, with a lack of encouragement, from mama. Mama just insults everything she does, often sparking a bickering session between her and Eunice. Eunice is very pathetic and tries to make everyone feel sorry for her by constantly ranting on and on, about how she's been treated badly at various moments throughout her life. In fact, her complaints can date as far back, as to her childhood. She'll rant on and on, frequently causing Ed and Mama to roll their eyes and walk away.

★ 'Mama' - As the mother of Eunice and mother in law of Ed, mama is a grumpy old woman, whose almost as stormy as her daughter. Unlike Mama's Family, this version of mama doesn't crack any smart remarks and sarcastic retorts. Rather, mama will just make disparaging and derogatory remarks, constantly letting Ed and Eunice know what is wrong with with them and how they're failures that will never make anything out of themselves. Ever the troublemaker, Mama was usually the one who started all the bickering and chaos with her constant petty criticisms, obnoxious behavior, and constant derogatory remarks. Oftentimes, just when they seemed to be getting along, Mama will say something that will upset Eunice or Ed. For instance, Mama once even told Eunice how Ellen was always her favorite. On top of it being outrageous, Mama also knows that Eunice is very jealous of her sister.

★ 'Ed Higgins' - As the son in law of Mama and the husband of Eunice, Ed frequently gets pushed around and treated like garbage, mainly by his wife, Eunice. However, Mama treats him almost just as badly, instigating him with her insults, often about what a failure he is. Although he gets pushed around the most, Ed can become overly worked up himself and does just as much bickering as the two women. He sometimes puts the two women in their places when they get too far out of control. However, it's often to no avail as that won't stop mama and Eunice from continuing to go at it with both Ed, and each other. Ed is rather a slob and somewhat goofy and dimwitted in his beahvior. He is also somewhat of a failure as he has a low-class job and not much going on.