A classic Simpsons segment has had new, weirder life breathed into it of late, as “Steamed Hams”—a.k.a. the “Skinner & The Superintendent” sequence from the celebrated seventh season episode “22 Short Films About Springfield”—has recently become the new memetic challenge for online remixers looking to draw comedic blood from an already very funny stone.
The segment—which, for those who’ve somehow never seen it, sees Harry Shearer’s Principal Skinner tell increasingly implausible lies to his stern-voiced boss, Superintendent Chalmers—has recently become the subject of a number of variations online, whether it’s the version that transforms the dialogue into a piano dub:
Or reuses each first instance of every word in the piece:
Or where Seymour goes to hell a little more with every lie:
“Steamed Hams” has become enough of a touch point, in fact, that it’s drawn the actual author of the sketch back into its reach. Bill Oakley—who, with Josh Weinstein, served as a showrunner on the season that produced “22 Short Films,” and who personally penned the segment’s first draft—finally weighed in on the meme today, in a way that would probably be pretty definitive, were it not for the internet horde’s typical sense of restraint.
And now, the countdown to the first loudly screaming remix of Oakley’s simple script-post has begun. Truly, the cosmic ballet…goes on.