John Oliver 'Close' To Achieving His Danbury Sewage Plant Dream

DANBURY, CT — His HBO show may be on hiatus, but host John Oliver still cannot avoid talking about Danbury.

"Last Week Tonight" took home the gold statuette in the Outstanding Talk Series category at the 72nd Emmy Awards on Sunday, and during the news conference after the Zoom-cast, an Access Hollywood reporter from Connecticut pressed the comedian about a certain sewage plant project.

"I don't have full news there, but I will say, 'very promising,'" Oliver said.

The strange saga so far: After the comedian used his HBO show to (still inexplicably) hurl insults at Hat City and tell residents they had a "standing invite" to receive "a thrashing from John Oliver — children included," Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton countered with a pledge to name the city sewage plant after him.

Boughton recanted soon afterwards, but Oliver was already all in. He told his audience the following week he would donate $55,000 to local Danbury charities, if the mayor made good on his threat. Boughton, unfazed by the turnabout, released a video saying he would accept the cash and rename the plant only if Oliver showed up in person for the dedication.

On Sunday after the Emmy show, Oliver doubled down on his sewage plant aspirations, but gave no indication he would take Boughton's bait.

"My dream this year is to have a sewage plant named after me in Danbury, Connecticut," Oliver told the interviewer. "And I'm close. I feel like I'm real close."

Oliver hasn't made any of this easy for Boughton from the start, and he is continuing to turn the screws. Teachers with projects on the Donors Choose crowdsourcing site have already reported they've been funded by donations from the HBO show. If Boughton makes good on "The John Oliver Memorial Sewage Plant," the host has promised to donate $25,000 to the teachers, $25,000 to Connecticut Food Bank and $5,000 to ALS Connecticut.