"Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests - we did. But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick, twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America!"
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"National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978)When Tim Matheson originally auditioned for "National Lampoon's Animal House", the producers wanted him to play one of the no-nonsense. straight-laced Omegas. However, he adamantly refused, saying, "I'm tired of playing it straight," and sought a role as one of the hard-partying, fun-loving Deltas. He succeeded and got the role of Otter, one of the most fun-loving Deltas of the whole film.
"I was just dying to get out of the constraints of television, and the constraints of the parts I'd been playing. I had taken a bunch of improv classes and was performing with The Groundlings. I wanted to get into more adult, risky stuff. I had read the 'Animal House' script, and by hook and crook, I finally got an audition. I'd been turned down by them a couple of times, and offered a lesser role as one of the @sshole Omegas. I said, 'No way.' Then I finally got the audition, and it was a great one. John Landis followed me out into the hallway afterward and said, "I've never done this before, but you've got the job. Now don't tell anyone!" I've never had a director do that. It was one of those Hollywood-dream-come-true stories. They saw me as a surfer or cowboy, not a preppie, but someone begged and borrowed me an audition, and I went in and got it. And it was one of those dream jobs where the cast came together and you looked around and were like, 'Wow, this is great.'"
Matheson, along with business partner Dan Grodnik, bought National Lampoon in 1989, when the magazine was facing financial decline. They were unable to reverse the magazine fortunes, however, and sold it in 1991
