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Support Builds for John Oliver Sewer Plant

Left, comedian John Oliver, right Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.
Greg Allen and Jessica Hill
/
Associated Press
Left, comedian John Oliver, right Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.

City officials in Danbury, Connecticut, are moving closer to naming the city’s sewage treatment plant after comedian John Oliver.

It started when Oliver seemingly randomly called out Danbury on his show, Last Week Tonight. Mayor Mark Boughton responded by threatening to name the city’s $110 million sewer plant after the comedian.

Oliver offered to donate $55,000 to local charities if Boughton went through with it.

“Listen. I didn’t know I wanted my name on your *bleep* factory, but now that you’ve floated it as an option, it is all that I want," Oliver said on his show.

Boughton said the city has received dozens of letters from residents in support, but the name change needs approval from Danbury’s City Council. The plant is in council member Farley Santos’s district.

“The sense of Danbury pride this has ignited amongst our residents is a much needed boost during these dreary times," Santos says. "It’s good to see our community stand together for our city.”

Most city officials say they support the name change, including council member Warren Levy.

“John Oliver should know that every time I smell the plant, I’ll think of him," Levy said. "So have a good evening, Mister Oliver!”

The council plans to vote on the name change later this week.

Copyright 2020 WSHU

Davis Dunavin loves telling stories, whether on the radio or around the campfire. He fell in love with sound-rich radio storytelling while working as an assistant reporter at KBIA public radio in Columbia, Missouri. Before coming back to radio, he worked in digital journalism as the editor of Newtown Patch. As a freelance reporter, his work for WSHU aired nationally on NPR. Davis is a proud graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism; he started in Missouri and ended up in Connecticut, which, he'd like to point out, is the same geographic trajectory taken by Mark Twain.