John Oliver channeled blockbuster moviemaking to stress the importance of routine maintenance and repair of America’s infrastructure, as he blasted Congress for ignoring the dwindling Highway Trust Fund.
The comedian started off Sunday’s 21-minute “Last Week Tonight” segment dedicated to the issue by explaining to uninformed viewers what infrastructure is: “Basically, anything that can be destroyed in an action movie.”
Since politicians have been ignoring the topic, which Oliver caught them repeatedly calling “not very sexy,” the HBO host decided to add a little Hollywood glamor to the issue in an effort to boost public interest.
“The lack of political urgency in tackling this problem is insane,” Oliver said. “And you can not tell me that you are not interested in this, because every summer people flock to see our infrastructure threatened by terrorists or aliens, but we should care just as much when it’s under threats from the inevitable passage of time. The problem is, no one has made a blockbuster movie about the importance of routine maintenance and repair. Or they hadn’t until now.”
Oliver recruited Oscar nominee Edward Norton, Steve Buscemi, Josh Lucas, Hope Davis and “Daredevil” star Vincent D’Onofrio to play people risking everything “to make nothing happen” in the fake trailer for “98 heart-pounding minutes of incremental maintenance.”
Watch the trailer for “Infrastructure” at the 17:40 mark of the video.