A while ago I watched what was probably the best thing I’ve ever seen on the Internet. And I’ve been browsing since the 80s. It’s a culmination of both pop culture and meme culture, creating something boring yet gripping, hilarious, and surprisingly creative. But in order to understand it we need to go back to 1981.
My Dinner with Andre
In 1981 the film My Dinner with Andre was released. The premise of the movie is that a failed playwright/actor ends up having dinner with a man that he’s always tried to avoid. Almost the entire film is set in the restaurant where they meet and talk. Apart from a few extras, the only two characters are Wally and Andre. We get to watch them talk for around 90 minutes and then the film ends.
It’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Wally ends up fascinated with Andre, listening to his tales about his adventures abroad. They touch on subjects surrounding experimental art, theatre, and the nature of life. Every word of their dialogue grips you until the end where they go their separate ways.
It was well received critically at the time of release and has since become a cult classic. At the time of writing, the entire film is available on YouTube if you want to watch it yourself.
Steamed Hams…
15 years later The Simpsons would release an episode entitled 22 Short Films About Springfield. This episode would include a segment called Skinner & the Superintendent in which Skinner would provide an unforgettable luncheon. In this sketch he tries to pass off Krusty Burgers as “Steamed Hams,” an old family recipe.
The sketch would rise in popularity around 2016, and people would start making edits of the sketch. Usually called something like “Steamed Hams But…,” these edits became an extremely popular meme format for a while. There are whole playlists on YouTube containing dozens upon dozens of these, some more hilarious than others.
…but it’s a Critically Acclaimed Feature Film
These two seemingly unrelated things culminated in what I think is the best thing I have ever witnessed. In 2025, a YouTuber called Tyrone Deise released a version of the meme called Steamed Hams but it’s a Critically Acclaimed Feature Film. Again, this entire movie is available on YouTube for any and all to watch.
The 43 minute film is a high quality production that takes the basic premise of the Steamed Hams sketch and expands the script to include many references to Skinner’s adventures up to that point in the series’ history. The background props are chock full of detail, including a Be Sharps album and a Board of Education paddle.
The film’s true name is My Dinner with Skinner, and it’s structured in a similar way to My Dinner with Andre. We follow the Superintendent on his way to dinner with Skinner, a man he despises. We get to hear his inner monologue as he considers the day. He ends up being fascinated by a lot of the stories Skinner tells, stories based on past episodes of the Simpsons. It even introduces a subplot based on the fact that Chalmers had dated Skinner’s mother recently, and wanted a chance to talk to Skinner about it.
Skinner’s dialogue in the movie isn’t anywhere near as gripping as Andre’s in the original movie. He starts to drone on, turning hilarious episodes into mundane chatter about weird events in his school. But this works in the movie’s favour, since this is exactly how I would imagine dinner with Principal Skinner would play out in real life.
This wasn’t the first video of it’s kind he had released, he had been making several extremely creative edits for years. But it’s one that caught my attention, mainly because I love My Dinner with Andre. And, for me, it’s probably the best thing I’ve ever seen on the internet.
