Have you met Aunt Terri or Aunt Mary Pat? Fandom grows for Delco internet personalities

Aunt Terri and Aunt Mary Pat are Delaware County characters through and through — if the accent itself wasn't a dead giveaway.

They have a deep love for their sports teams and possess colorful tastes in lipstick. While their families might drive them a bit crazy, it's nothing that a Wawa run or trip down the Shore can't fix.

Despite their lively personalities, they're also not real.

Aunt Terri and Aunt Mary Pat are characters who have been gaining traction on social media for their impersonations of Delaware County women. The actors behind the characters don't know each other, but both have garnered increasingly large internet followings in recent months, with the Super Bowl partially to thank for their growing popularity, as their characters' reactions to the "Iggles" drew fans. Now, they're getting millions of video views online and separate but similar event in-person bookings for their characters.

Here's a look back at the stories behind the two internet personalities.

It's only a few more months until Aunt Terri, 51 of Havertown and a Haverford High School alum, can spend her summers "downna Shore" at her and her sister Dawn's timeshare.

Aside from soaking up the Jersey Shore sun, Aunt Terri — who calls herself "Philly's favorite aunt" who's "known your mom since middle school" — loves both the "Iggles" and her husband Jim, whom she met in Wildwood. He owns a construction company but is a bit lazy around the house. 

The actor

Aunt Terri has garnered the internet following of a minor celebrity since Talia Genevieve, a 28-year-old Fishtown resident and professional voice actor, started her Instagram page in October.

The character now has more than 30,000 followers on Facebook, 7,900 on Instagram and about 1,700 followers on Twitter. She credits the Super Bowl for helping launch Aunt Terri into internet fandom.

"The timing was just, like perfect," she said. "The timing of that couldn't have been any better. … This is how my mom's friends and aunts were approaching [the Super Bowl] anyway."

Now, Genevieve is booking events, radio and comedy shows and is looking to expand the character as far as she can, including dreams of bringing Aunt Terri to Saturday Night Live alongside Upper Darby native Tina Fey.

Genevieve says Aunt Terri gives the world an opportunity to hear what a real Philly accent sounds like.

"People think that we talk like Rocky," Genevieve said of the famed character played by Sylvester Stallone, who hails from New York. "The only reference that the world has of a Philadelphia accent is from Rocky."

Genevieve doesn't have an accent of her own despite having grown up in Ardmore, but has been hearing it her entire life. As a kid, Genevieve would tag along with her dad while he was fishing at the Jersey Shore. His friends would bring their wives, and she began to pick up on the dialect that would eventually turn into Aunt Terri.

The character's page is in no way making fun of those who might pronounce "water" as "wooder," or say "youse" instead of "you" — Genevieve looks at Aunt Terri as a celebration.

"These are the moms of our region," she said. "I want their voice to be heard and it's funny because they don't try to be, but they're funny."

Genevieve's favorite words to say as Aunt Terri:

One of her favorite videos:

Aunt Mary Pat DiSabatino, 52 of Ridley Park, has a saying — she's an aunt to all, mom to some and wife to one.

She's been working at Acme for the entirety of her adult life and her days are brightest when watching the Philadelphia Eagles — or any Philadelphia sports team, really — dragging on a cigarette and sipping on a Coca-Cola. Her "doorter" Kelly is the subject of many of her videos and her favorite holiday (Easter) has just passed.

The actor

Aunt Mary Pat, a character developed by 29-year-old Delaware resident Troy David Hendrickson, has built more than 28,000 followers on Facebook and more than 6,000 followers on Instagram since the pages launched in February. Hendrickson is now booking events as the character with no stopping anytime in the near future.

"I think [the Super Bowl] definitely helped popularize this character," Hendrickson said. "For my mom and anyone from this area, its a huge deal."

Hendrickson, a Wilmington University student with a full-time office job who occasionally performs in drag, has been doing the impersonation for years. It's a culmination of what he's picked up while working customer service jobs in Springfield Township and Chadds Ford as well as from his own mom, Susan.

Aunt Mary Pat is "a love story to my mom almost," Hendrickson said.

But he decided to channel Aunt Mary Pat after calling his mom and learning she was heading to Modell's Sporting Goods to grab some team gear.

The interaction resulted in a video of a hungover Aunt Mary Pat the day after the Super Bowl, explaining a frank exchange she had at a local Wawa.

(Warning: Video contains profanity)

And while the character is based off Hendrickson's mom — who apparently doesn't hear herself in the accent — one of the most rewarding parts of posting the videos online is seeing how so many people relate to Aunt Mary Pat.

"It's been largely, I would say positive, just watching and reading the comments and seeing how people comment, 'Hey, that's my mom, that's my aunt, that's my grandmother,'" he said.

Hendrickson's favorite words to say as Aunt Mary Pat:

One of his favorite videos: