The Netherlands is gaining international attention this week. Is it NATO-related news? Is it Max Verstappen? Nope, it’s because of good old Dutch fish. 🐟
On Monday, comedian John Oliver spent a full ten minutes of his show, Last Week Tonight, talking about the Utrecht fish doorbell, and we’re still laughing about it.
We’re not alone, either — after the show aired, the website received four times its usual visitors, according to NU.nl.
Help a fish out
The segment appeared on an episode about Trump’s tariffs because the doorbell is (apparently 👀) wonderful enough to distract people from the chaos of US politics.
So, what’s this fish doorbell powerful enough to make you forget about democracy ending?
Well, it’s actually an underwater livestream in front of the Utrecht Weerdsluis lock. If you see a fish, you can press the virtual lock and let the fish in.
And that’s your good deed of the day done. 😉
‘Show me your Netherlands’
Oliver got very excited about the cause, but he also offered some constructive criticism.
He thought there was not enough excitement to be seen on the underwater camera.
Thankfully, he’s a man of action, so he invited the hit R&B singer Mario to sing a song to “help fish get in the mood” — proving that sex sells (even if it’s fish sex).
He also set up his own website, showmeyournetherlands.com, where people can press the fish doorbell or be redirected to the official Utrecht site.
“You can only dream of this kind of beautiful attention,” said ecologist and creator of the fish doorbell, Mark Van Heukelum, to the NOS.
It helps that the attention wasn’t just beautiful, but also hilarious: “I was laughing my head off. It was bizarre and above all a very positive story,” thought Mark.
Did you know about Utrecht’s fish doorbell? Let us know in the comments!