Dildo's latest mayoral hopeful is Jimmy Kimmel
American comedian and late night host enamoured with small N.L. town, even though he's never been there
It's a scenic, seaside town on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula with plenty of local tourism companies, a new brewery — and now, American late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel wants to serve as its mayor.
The town is Dildo.
"Last week I was alerted to the existence of a place, maybe a magical place. It's a small town called Dildo — D-I-L-D-O. It's a real place in Newfoundland, Canada," Kimmel told his studio audience on his show Wednesday night.
With what is likely one of the most commonly stolen town signs in the province, if not Canada, Dildo is historically a fishing village, with a now-booming tourism industry, but the origins of the town's name, dating back to the 1700s, are not known for certain.
What is known is, come from aways (people not from Newfoundland and Labrador) find the town's name hilarious, and Jimmy Kimmel Live is having a time with it.
For his California-based show Wednesday night, Kimmel dialed in a crew of "Dildodians" — people who live in Dildo — to talk about their town origins, as well as to announce he wanted to be the town's new mayor.
Coun. Andrew Pretty said Kimmel's chances are "slim to none" because he'd have to come and get screeched in first.
Kimmel was perplexed, to say the least, saying, "I didn't understand any of that.
"I'm gonna need to learn to speak Dildo before that."
During the show, Kimmel's crew erected a sign declaring Hollywood and Dildo "sister cities."
Pretty said the town is totally on board, even though Dildo already has a sister city.
CBC News headed to the small town on Thursday to get a sense of the newfound fame.
Pretty took the reporter to a local print shop and gave a glimpse of the town's newest sign — proclaiming Hollywood as a new sister city.
As for the town's name, Pretty said it was first recorded in 1711 on Dildo Island, but nobody knows why.
He came to realize it was a strange name in grade school, when he was tasked with doing a project on his hometown.
"The teacher warned us to be very careful with what we were searching on the internet."
Now the top hit is Jimmy Kimmel Live.
"I just find it so funny. It went so far, so fast," said Karine McDonald, owner of Dildo Cove Coffee and Krafts.
She was one of the citizens in the video speaking with Kimmel on Wednesday night. Just a few days earlier, she had no idea her town was going to be on TV.
"When I saw it, I didn't know like, who is Jimmy Kimmel? I had to go and Google and make some search because I don't watch TV."