Heidi Gardner both shone and disturbed in Saturday night’s “Mile High Burger Challenge” sketch on “SNL.” With her skill for physical comedy on display, Gardner joined host Nate Bargatze and cast members Bowen Yang, Mikey Day and Sarah Sherman as family members wrestling with making health-related decisions for their aging patriarch.
Though Gardner’s character was ostensibly only there to be a “silent resource” after having faced similar decisions for her own mother, she quickly took center stage after her order — the Mile High Burger — arrived at the table, shocking Gardner with its unexpected girth. Waiter Andrew Dismukes explained that finishing the burger and accompanying milkshake in under 10 minutes would result in a free trip to Hawai’i, something that Gardner decided to go for as she listened to the solemn discussion.
As she makes her way through the burger by way of increasingly disgusting tactics, Yang, Day and Sherman continue to discuss their options with Bargatze. Gardner was soon flailing at the table, gesticulating wildly with her hands to the point of flinging sauce at her tablemates and regularly speaking garbled English through a mouthful of food — which prompted everyone else at the table to start breaking character, fighting to hold back spurts of laughter.
The “Saturday Night Live” audience tends to love few things more than when a cast member breaks, and each time it became clear that one or more people couldn’t keep a straight face, the audience also laughed harder and harder.
Gardner eventually finished the challenge and had her photo immortalized on the restaurant’s wall as a winner – right alongside the photo of Yang, Day, Sherman and Bargatze’s father.
You can watch the full “Mile High Burger” sketch in the video above.
