Danbury City Council Approves Naming Sewage Plant After Comedian

DANBURY, CT —The City Council voted to rename Danbury's wastewater treatment facility the "John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant" on Thursday evening.

If you are to believe comedian and HBO host John Oliver — and we'd really like to — it's his fondest dream come true.

The vote capped one of the oddest rivalries in either politics or entertainment, which began in August when Oliver used his "Last Week Tonight" show to inexplicably inform Danbury residents they had a "standing invite" to receive "a thrashing from John Oliver — children included." Demonstrating equal bravado and spuriousness, Mayor Mark Boughton countered with a pledge to name the city sewage plant after him.

In an unanticipated display of comic jujitsu, Oliver embraced the idea. He told Boughton, along with his 4.7 million viewers, he would donate $55,000 to Danbury area charities on the sole condition the sewer plant be given his name.

"Listen, I didn't know that I wanted my name on your s--- factory, but now that you've floated it as an option, it is all that I want!" he told Boughton, after playing a video clip of the mayor telling an interviewer that the renaming was only meant as a "joke."

At that point, it was on — as the mayor is fond of saying — like "Donkey Kong."

Instead of accepting the comedian's charitable offer outright, Boughton inexplicably — much of the back-and-forth between Oliver and Boughton has been inexplicable — added the condition that the comedian be physically present for the renaming ceremony.

While residents scratched their heads on social media ("How hard is it to accept $55K in donations?" was a common sentiment), John Oliver's show went on hiatus, and it appeared the answer to the $55K question would have to wait.

But that would have been understandable — explicable, even. So instead, Oliver began making good on some of his promised charitable donations. Teachers with projects on the Donors Choose crowdsourcing site reported they had been funded by donations from his HBO show.

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On Monday, Boughton announced that Oliver had already donated $30,000, and a resolution to rename the city's sewer plant would go before the City Council.

On Thursday, the Council voted unanimously for the renaming.

Who had the last laugh? Danbury's hungry. That green light also triggered an initiative, announced by Boughton on Monday, by local banks who will sponsor a community fundraiser to help feed Danbury families. The mayor anticipates the effort will raise at least $100,000 for United Way’s Danbury Food Collaborative.