Grand Poobah

Poobah redirects here.

Grand Poobah is a term derived from the name of the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado (1885). In this comic opera, Pooh-Bah holds numerous exalted offices, including "First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral... Archbishop of Titipu, and Lord Mayor" and Lord High Everything Else. The name has come to be used as a mocking title for someone self-important or high-ranking and who either exhibits an inflated self-regard or who has limited authority while taking impressive titles. The formal term for the practice of holding multiple offices is "dual mandate".

In popular culture

• The term "Grand Poobah" was used on the television show The Flintstones as the name of a high ranking elected position in a men's club. Fred Flintstone and his friend Barney Rubble were members of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes Lodge No. 26. The lodge is a spoof of men's clubs like the Freemasons, the Shriners, the Elks Club and the Moose Lodge.

• The character Howard Cunningham on the TV series Happy Days was a Grand Poobah of Leopard Lodge No. 462 in Milwaukee.

• In the Fraggle Rock episode "The Secret Society of Poohbahs," the Poobah name is used for the a secret silly society within Fraggle Rock called the "Poohbas." Gillis Fraggle serves as tbe Beggler-Beg of the Poohbas, Convincing John serves as the Vanguard of the Poohbas, Red Fraggle serves as the Mind-Reader who sees if a potential member is worthy enough to join the Poohbahs, and the other members are referred to as "Fritz."

• In the comic strip Pearls Before Swine, the character rat deems himself Grand Poobah of the Benevolent Society of Angry Misanthropes.

• In Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, there is a Tauren NPC named Princess Poobah that gives a quest line to rescue her from Jaguero Isle in the Cape of Stranglethorn.