Delta, Delta, Delta: can I helpya, helpya, helpya?

Cafe Society
1

So I’m sure all of us Gen X-ers remember the sorority girl skits on Saturday Night Live in the mid-90’s. What I remember is that they ended abruptly after a real sorority, Tri-Delts, threatened legal action.

I have no idea if this is true or an urban legend from my campus at the time, Ann Arbor. I do remember a Tri-Delt saying that they actually answer their house phone that way, and that their National org was pissed at SNL.

Does anyone know anything about this? Any of you Panhel girls know anything?

Also, links to those skits would be awesome; my YouTube searches only result in more recent sketches or non-SNL copies of the originals.

2

Search for SNL Delta Delta Delta, I found at least one on another site.
https://screen.yahoo.com/tri-delta-finals-week-000000733.html

3

Here’s more:
https://screen.yahoo.com/tri-delta-alumni-week-000000388.html
https://screen.yahoo.com/ddd-sorority-girls-000000033.html

4

Thanks! Those took me right to them. The skits don’t hold up as I’d hoped. Maybe shit’s just funnier when you’re 19.

5

I always figured SNL was only funny if you were stoned. Seeing as I didn’t do that, it never tickled my funny bone.

6

When did you watch it?

I always said "It was only funny in the 90’s and went downhill, waaaay downhill after that. But when I talk to my sisters that were ‘coming of age’ (read: 12-20 in 1998-2010) they’ll tell you it was best in the '00s and everything else was garbage.

I think it’s just that it caters to the teenagers more than anything.

I liked the Mike Myers/Phil Hartman/Dana Carvey/Victoria Jackson etc crew (I know they came from the 80’s (I was born in 1980)). I watched it through David Spade/Adam Sandler/Tim Meadows etc. I watched it on and off in the later years after I went to college in 98, but at some point before that I had switched over to MadTV.

My sisters, OTOH, were bigger fans of people like Kenan*, Jason Sudeikis, Kristin Wiig and a bunch of other people that are in movies now that when I say ‘who’s that’ they say 'she was from SNL and I’m surprised I’ve never even heard the name.
*I hated Kenan. I thought he was awful for the show, had terrible comedic timing and was just, well, terrible. I don’t know if they were just thought he was fat so he could replace Jim and John (Candy) or what, but I never liked him. But I see he was on for 12 years and I remember him from Roundhouse so they knew what they were getting, I guess.

7

As pledges, we had to answer the phone to the tune of “Yankee Doodle.”

“Hello, this is the _____ ________ house;
A scummy pledge is speaking
And if you tell me who you want
I’ll get you whom you’re seeking.”

Extra emphasis on the “m” in “whom.”

8

The early '80s.

9

Not all that long ago, I re-watched the first 2 seasons of SNL. They weren’t as funny as I recall them from the first time around. Oh, and I quit getting stoned in the 80s. I think, over time, one tends to forget the sketches and performances that weren’t all that entertaining. Except for the ones that were so terrible you can’t forget them (Like Michael O’Donahue’s “Mister Mike” sketches).

10

Every decade someone says SNL sucks now it was the best when (what ever time period they were in high school and college) because that’s when they had the time and energy to watch it.
Even the golden first years suck if you watch them intact…but a lot of people came up watching “best of” versions so they just think it was all gold.

11

"Incidentally, as a member of Tri Delta’s professional staff, one of the top five questions I get when I talk to people about what I do is, “Did you sue Saturday Night Live?” We did not. "

12

Yep. I’ve never really had the desire to watch SNL eps all the way through. That’s the foundation of my SNL viewing strategy: Let other people actually watch it and check out a skit if several people say it’s good. It’s a much more efficient process.