Why Are TikTok Videos Labeled “Mike Who Cheese Harry?”

This TikTok trend was at its peak in 2024, but you still see videos on the social media platform that are captioned “Mike Who Cheese Harry?”

What’s up with that?

If you’ve ever watched more than a few episodes of The Simpsons, you know that Bart regularly makes prank calls to Moe’s bar and asks to speak to a non-existent person. The gag is designed to get Moe to call out an embarrassing name, like “Is there an Al Coholic here?”

This trend is like that, but more off-color.

The “Mike Who Cheese Harry” Trend

Warning: slightly crude language ahead.

There’s really not much to this gag.

Most of the TikTok videos produced to capitalize on this trend are similar. The content creator hands someone else a piece of paper and asks them to quickly read the phrase that’s on it. The paper, of course, has “Mike Who Cheese Harry” written on it.

If you tried it after reading the last sentence, you probably realize what the “joke” is. If not, we’ll spell it out for you. When read at high speed, “Mike Who Cheese Harry” sounds much like “My coochie’s hairy.” GET IT? The point of the TikTok posts isn’t necessarily getting a person to read the phrase; it’s watching their reaction when they realize what they’ve just said.

To some people, the gag apparently never gets old — although we’d guess that most TikTok users over the age of 13 get tired of seeing the stunt pulled after seeing it in multiple posts. That’s the reason that Bart Simpson didn’t keep asking for “Al Coholic” in every prank call to Moe’s. (For the record, our favorite call was for “Lee Kee Bum.”)

Nevertheless, “Mike Who Cheese Harry” videos trended for a while and still pop up every so often on the app. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.