Summer Britcher loved the joke.
The USA Luge veteran, about to compete in her fourth Olympics, went viral last weekend — in the sliding community, anyway. Even better, it happened without Britcher actually doing anything for her newfound fame.
Such is the power of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
SNL’s Jane Wickline portrayed a luge athlete named Gertie Burper in a skit that essentially was a faux Olympics promo. It centered around three athletes; one was a snowboarder and another was a figure skater, both portrayed in the typical we’re-ready-to-compete way.
Then came Burper, a tall, lean woman who just happened to be racing on a yellow sled, which isn’t exactly a common color in luge. Britcher is tall, lean and, you guessed it, races on a yellow sled. The everyday SNL viewer probably didn’t make the connection. Those who know Britcher got it almost immediately.
“I thought it was so funny,” said Britcher, who has seven career singles races wins on the World Cup circuit, making her USA Luge’s all-time victory leader. “I had no idea it was coming. My boyfriend sent it to me and as I was watching it, just more and more of the details stood out. And I was like, ‘Hey, hang on a second.’”
That’s when she knew she was being parodied. She’s been laughing about it ever since.
Much of the Burper character was built around the fact that her body type had the perfect height-weight distribution needed to be fast on a sled. Britcher seemed to particularly like that line — “I’m flattered to have a body that has the perfect shape,” she said Friday with a laugh, clearly just hamming it up over SNL’s notion.
To be clear, Britcher — a 31-year-old from Glen Rock, Pennsylvania — does not think that “a corpse that’s my same shape could win,” despite Burper claiming that would be the case in the SNL skit. She has never faked an illness and needed to be pushed down the start ramp by a coach while protesting. And no, Britcher does not “confuse and ultimately silence” her survival instinct by popping a bunch of pills before races.
But as tends to be the case with good humor, there was a bit of truth in there. There have been times when Britcher — to use another of Burper’s lines — has hated “the thing I’m good at.” Then again, that’s pretty common for sliders. Luge frustrates everyone at times, even the best in the world.
If the SNL skit gets more eyeballs on the Olympics, Britcher is all for it. Luge, particularly doubles luge, has been the butt of jokes for as long as anyone can remember. But if the joke is well-done, Britcher sees a lot of good in that.
“I think it’s so fun,” Britcher said. “It’s fun that they’re getting a little more creative with the jokes and the coverage of luge. So, that’s exciting. I hope it got more people interested in the sport and maybe they’ll tune in and watch.”
