Steamed Hams Episode & Meme Guide | S7E21 Explained

Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?

If you understood that reference, you're one of millions who've fallen down the steamed hams rabbit hole. This four-minute Simpsons segment has spawned more remixes, edits, and variations than any other piece of the show. Here's why.

Hamburgers cooking on grill with visible steam and smoke

What Is "Steamed Hams"?

Steamed hams refers to a segment from The Simpsons episode "22 Short Films About Springfield" (Season 7, Episode 21, aired April 14, 1996). The segment is titled "Skinner and the Superintendent."

The premise: Principal Skinner invites Superintendent Chalmers over for lunch. He burns the roast. Instead of admitting failure, he runs to Krusty Burger, buys fast food, and attempts to pass it off as his own cooking.

When Chalmers points out that these are clearly hamburgers, Skinner claims they're "steamed hams," an old family recipe. The lies escalate. His kitchen catches fire. He claims it's the Aurora Borealis.

Chalmers sees through everything but says nothing. The scene ends with Skinner's mother screaming for help while he insists everything is fine.

The Full Dialogue

The segment runs about four minutes. The escalation follows a precise comedic structure:

Chalmers arrives, Skinner panics
The roast burns, Skinner improvises
Each lie requires a bigger lie
The fire/Aurora Borealis climax
Denial despite obvious disaster

Key exchanges include the "steamed hams" explanation ("It's a regional dialect"), the "Aurora Borealis" deflection, and the final "Yes" when Chalmers asks if he can see it.

The writing is airtight. Every line sets up the next joke.

When Did Steamed Hams Become a Meme?

The segment aired in 1996 but didn't become a meme until 2016, a full two decades later. Bill Oakley, who wrote the segment entirely by himself, has spoken about how strange it was to see his work resurface so long after it aired.

The viral explosion happened gradually, then all at once. A few YouTube edits appeared in 2015. By late 2016, steamed hams remixes were flooding the platform. The trend peaked around 2018, when Woolworths Australia started receiving phone calls from people asking if they sold "steamed hams." Staff had no idea what callers were talking about.

Oakley has credited the Marx Brothers' "Night at the Opera" as an influence on the escalating-lies structure. The comedy builds through commitment. Skinner never backs down, each lie demands a bigger lie, and the payoff only works because he doubles down on the absurdity.

Why Is Steamed Hams Perfect for Remixing?

Several factors made this segment uniquely meme-friendly:

Self-contained story: Unlike most Simpsons clips, this segment has a complete narrative arc. Beginning, middle, end. No context needed. You can show it to someone who's never seen The Simpsons and they'll get the joke.

Remix-friendly structure: The escalating lies create natural breakpoints for edits. Swap the "steamed hams" explanation for anything else and the joke still works. The structure is a template.

Perfect length: Four minutes is short enough to watch repeatedly, long enough to support complex edits. Most sketches are either too short to remix or too long to hold attention.

Absurdist humor that ages well: The premise is ridiculous, the execution deadpan. This combination doesn't rely on topical references or dated cultural moments.

Quotable density: Almost every line became a standalone reference. "Aurora Borealis" alone spawned thousands of jokes. "At this time of year" became its own meme format.

Famous Steamed Hams Remixes

YouTube and Reddit transformed steamed hams into a collaborative art project. Some notable examples:

"Steamed Hams but it's a 21st Century Schizoid Man" syncs the dialogue to King Crimson's prog rock classic. The absurdity of the mash-up somehow works perfectly.

"Steamed Hams but Every Scene is from a Different Animator" features over 160 artists each animating a few seconds. The project took months to coordinate and showcases wildly different animation styles frame by frame.

"Steamed Hams Inc." replaces the audio with Gorillaz's "Feel Good Inc." The timing matches so precisely it feels intentional.

"Steamed Hams but Skinner is Honest" flips the premise entirely. Skinner admits to buying fast food immediately, and the scene ends in seconds.

The formats kept expanding: video game recreations, AI voice versions, foreign language dubs, live-action shot-for-shot remakes. The subreddit r/SteamedHams documents the ongoing creative output. New versions still appear regularly, though the peak was around 2017-2018.

Types of Steamed Hams Memes

The variations fall into recognizable categories:

Musical remixes: The dialogue set to different songs, from metal to synthwave to sea shanties. The timing of the original dialogue often syncs surprisingly well with various songs.

Crossovers: The scene recreated in other animation styles, video games, or combined with other memes. GTA, Fallout, and anime-style versions are common.

Concept inversions: What if Skinner told the truth? What if Chalmers never showed up? These play with the premise rather than the execution.

Extended cuts: Fan-made versions that add scenes before, during, or after the original.

Live action: People actually acting out the scene, sometimes frame-by-frame, with surprisingly high production values.

Who Wrote Steamed Hams?

Bill Oakley wrote the steamed hams segment entirely by himself. He was a writer and showrunner on The Simpsons during its golden era (Seasons 5-8), along with his writing partner Josh Weinstein.

Oakley has discussed the scene's structure in interviews, noting the influence of classic escalating-comedy bits from the Marx Brothers. The key insight: Skinner never wavers. Each lie demands commitment to the previous lie. The comedy compounds.

He's also mentioned being surprised by the meme's longevity. The segment was a small part of an anthology episode, not expected to become the most remixed moment in Simpsons history.

The Episode Context

"22 Short Films About Springfield" is structured as an anthology, parodying Pulp Fiction's nonlinear storytelling. The episode contains multiple short vignettes about Springfield residents.

The steamed hams segment is one of several, but it's the only one that achieved meme immortality. Other segments from the same episode include:

Chief Wiggum and Snake in a Pulp Fiction parody
Lisa getting gum stuck in her hair
Milhouse's dad on a date

The episode aired during Season 7, widely considered part of the show's golden era (roughly Seasons 3-8).

Is It "Steamed Hams" or "Steamed Ham"?

Skinner says "steamed hams" (plural) in the episode. The meme uses both versions interchangeably, though "steamed hams" is more common and technically correct.

For search purposes, people use both. Google treats them as related queries.

Can You Actually Make Steamed Hams?

The irony is that Skinner's lie accidentally describes a real cooking technique. Steaming hamburgers is a legitimate method, used in some regional burger styles and diners.

The steam-griddling technique produces a distinct texture: the steam melts the cheese while keeping the patty juicy. It's not grilled, not fried, but something in between.

We have a steamed hams recipe if you want to try it. The burgers are good. The lying to authority figures is optional.

The Line That Started It All

The meme's staying power comes from the Aurora Borealis exchange. When Chalmers sees fire pouring from the kitchen and asks what's happening, Skinner's deadpan "Aurora Borealis" is the peak of the segment's absurdity.

Chalmers' followup questions ("At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?") each give Skinner a chance to back down. He doesn't. He commits fully.

The final "Yes" and Chalmers' resigned "May I see it?" / "No" is the perfect punchline.