Utrecht's fish doorbell goes viral after appearing on John Oliver show

We’ve written before about the fish doorbell in Utrecht, but now in its fourth year, it’s starting to get more international attention - even across the pond. Users to the website surged this week, after British-American comedian John Oliver spent a full 10 minutes talking about the fish doorbell. 

Utrecht’s fish doorbell gets a spot on prime time US TV

The world’s first fish doorbell was installed in Utrecht back in 2021. With an underwater camera and a live stream, the fish doorbell allows internet users to watch and wait for fish. If they spot one, they press the doorbell, which alerts the lock keeper that the lock needs to be opened to allow the fish through. It’s simple, cute and wholesome. 

Although the fish doorbell has generated a fair amount of buzz over the last couple of years, it got a huge new audience this week when John Oliver featured it in a segment of his popular HBO show Last Week Tonight. Oliver said the doorbell was a nice distraction from news about American politics, and pointed people to click on the doorbell via a new website he created, showmeyournetherlands.com

He then got R&B singer Mario on to sing a song to “help fish get in the mood” - a reference to the fact that the doorbell was originally installed to help fish swim up and downstream the canal to spawn. 

Oliver segment causes fish doorbell visits to spike

In the hours and days after the segment was broadcast, users to visdeurbel.nl surged to around 600.000 to 700.000 per day, more than three times the previous average of around 200.000 per day. 

Mark van Heukelum, the doorbell’s creator, said to NOS, "If you had told me five years ago that an R&B singer would sing a love song for fish on American television, I would have thought you were crazy… You can only dream of this kind of beautiful attention.”