Bug Gribble is the father of Dale Gribble, father-in-law of Nancy Gribble and the legal grandfather of Joseph Gribble. He is also the widower of Dale's mother. He was primarily seen in the episode "My Own Private Rodeo".
History[]
Bug works for the Lonestar Gay Rodeo Association at Coburn Fairgrounds and is in a relationship with Juan Pedro. He was hated by Dale for years after Bug grabbed Nancy and kissed her at their wedding. Bug used this to hide his sexual orientation because at the time he was flirting with a gay Filipino caterer who was part of the wedding party crew and was about to kiss him. Upon seeing Dale, he grabbed the nearest woman he could find, who turned out to Nancy, and kissed her as a cover-up because he was insecure at the time and did not want Dale to find out he was gay.
Years later, with help from Hank, the two reconcile their differences. When Bug first tries to tell Dale he's gay and that Juan Pedro is his partner, Dale again hates him after he is convinced his dad's a government agent. Dale then goes to the rodeo to inform the men there his dad is monitoring them. However, after he sees Bug kiss Juan Pedro, Dale realizes that his dad was telling the truth and is perfectly fine with it.
In a flashback Dale has earlier in the series, his father can be seen giving him a ventriloquist's dummy named Chip Block for his birthday (much to Dale's chagrin.) He can also be seen in a flashback early in the series about looking after their sons in the "The Order of the Straight Arrow". In this older style of flashback he looks just like Dale does now, however even in the older depictions he’s still called "Bug". Most likely, this is another instance of a character being retconned in appearance and personality as the series progressed.
Episode Appearances[]
- Season 1
- "The Order of the Straight Arrow" (flashback, non-speaking)
- Season 5
- "Now Who's the Dummy?" (cameo)
- Season 6
- "My Own Private Rodeo" (debut)
Trivia[]
- Charles Nelson Reilly was supposed to voice Bug.[citation needed] David Herman did provide a more-or-less decent impression of Reilly when voicing Bug though.
Gallery[]
