The Schoharie Reformed Church after the floods that devastated the village of Schoharie during Hurricane Iriene. Photo by Jay Harsevoort via the Watershed Post's Flickr pool.
David Letterman has his own street in the village of Schoharie in Schoharie County. It's the one leading to the sewage plant.
That street was christened with love back in 2002, after the Late Show with David Letterman picked Schoharie as an typical upstate town and mocked it accordingly.
It was all in good fun, according to a Saturday Times-Union article, and to prove it, Letterman will be featuring the village of Schoharie again tonight -- alongside Seth Rogen and Fleet Foxes -- in a bid to bring attention and aid to the town n the wake of its severe flood damage.
The appearance on the show was engineered by Schoharie Mayor John Borst, according to the Times-Union:
The Letterman assist can be traced to an email Borst sent to "Late Show" staffers asking for help. They forwarded the request to Tom Keaney of Rubenstein Public Relations, who handles Letterman's P.R. Keaney spoke with Borst and recalled riding with villagers on a bus from Schoharie to the taping in 2002 and he even saved a T-shirt printed to mark the occasion. The stunt of bringing the village for a taping grew out of a "Late Show" segment on "Biff Henderson's America" that chose Schoharie at random as a typical rural upstate village ...
The village got a lot of mileage, and even a few tourists, after the national TV exposure in 2002.
They also gave Letterman a jab of their own when Borst announced on the show that they named a road in Schoharie after the comic. Letterman Lane is the road that leads to the village's sewer plant. It survived Irene's flooding, despite 8 feet of river water that surged through it during the storm.
On Nov. 18, 2002, Borst got to read a "Late Show" list with the Top 10 Reasons Why Being Mayor of Schoharie is the Best Job in the World. Borst said he'll never forget No. 1: "I get to go on network television and tell Letterman, screw you."
Added Borst, "Depending on what he says on Monday night, I'd like to give him a big kiss this time around."
The village has established a new relief fund to handle the relief that will hopefully be generated by its late-night appearance. To make a tax-deductible donation to assist flood rebuilding efforts, send a check to: The Schoharie Recovery Fund P.O. Box 111 Schoharie, NY 12157.
