How To Avoid Mosquito Bites and The Diseases They Carry

Summary

Chasing Life: How To Avoid Mosquito Bites and The Diseases They Carry

Release Date: July 25, 2025

In this enlightening episode of Chasing Life, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, delves deep into the pervasive issue of mosquitoes and the myriad of diseases they transmit. Joined by Dr. Timothy Weingart, a historian and professor at Colorado Mesa University, the conversation traverses the historical, biological, and ecological facets of these tiny yet formidable creatures. Below is a comprehensive summary capturing the essence of their discussion.

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1. The Ubiquity and Threat of Mosquitoes

Dr. Gupta opens the conversation by highlighting the omnipresence of mosquitoes in daily life:

"You might be sitting in the park or by the pool. You could be on a hike, maybe in your car. Even when you hear it, there's a mosquito somewhere nearby." [00:02]

Contrasting this annoyance, Dr. Weingart emphasizes the historical lethality of mosquitoes:

"They have been the biggest killer of humanity across our existence." [00:22]

He elaborates that the threat from mosquitoes extends beyond mere itchy bites to life-threatening diseases.

2. Historical Impact of Mosquito-Borne Diseases

Dr. Weingart recounts pivotal historical events significantly influenced by mosquito-borne pathogens:

"Scotland giving up its independence with the Acts of Union to England because of a failed colonial expedition in Panama that was cut to pieces by mosquitoes in yellow fever." [03:51]

Additional examples include the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown and the African slave trade, all underscoring mosquitoes' profound influence on human history. He further notes the economic implications:

"Northern hemisphere countries don't have endemic malaria, they're able to develop more affluent economies because they're not continuously suffering from malaria." [04:26]

3. Mosquito-Borne Pathogens and Public Health

The discussion categorizes mosquito-borne pathogens into three primary groups:

• Worms: Including canine heartworm, which affects both humans and animals.

• Viruses: Such as yellow fever, West Nile, dengue (referred to as "breakbone fever"), and various types of encephalitis.

• Protozoan Parasites: Specifically, malaria, which has five varieties infecting humans and numerous species across different classes over 400 million years.

Dr. Weingart provides staggering statistics:

"Roughly 4 to 5 billion people on the planet currently are at risk of dengue." [06:48]

4. The Battle Against Mosquitoes: Challenges and Strategies

Resistance to Insecticides: Dr. Weingart discusses the rapid evolution of mosquitoes, particularly their resistance to DDT:

"Mosquitoes became immune to DDT within seven years." [09:11]

Despite its initial effectiveness, widespread use led to resistance, rendering DDT largely ineffective by the 1970s.

Current and Future Control Measures:

• Reintroduction of DDT: Some countries are reconsidering DDT for specific applications like bed nets and door screenings.

• Vaccines: While yellow fever has an established vaccine, malaria remains elusive, though research is ongoing with optimism for a vaccine within the next decade.

• Genetic Modification: The use of CRISPR and gene drives to create genetically altered mosquitoes aims to reduce or eliminate specific species, though uncertainties remain about ecological repercussions.

5. Ecological Significance of Mosquitoes

Addressing the ecological role of mosquitoes, Dr. Weingart underscores their importance beyond being disease vectors:

"Mosquitoes are pollinators. Females bite to secure a blood meal, to grow and mature their eggs and just be a good mom. So mosquitoes are pollinators. They drink pollen." [11:49]

He warns against the unforeseen consequences of eradicating mosquitoes, such as the potential extinction of certain orchids reliant on them for pollination. Additionally, mosquitoes serve as a crucial food source for various species, maintaining ecosystem balance.

6. Personal Attraction to Mosquitoes: Unraveling the Science

Dr. Weingart explores why some individuals are more prone to mosquito bites:

"85% of what makes the individual person more or less alluring to mosquitoes is hardwired in our genetics." [18:25]

Key Factors Include:

• Blood Type: Individuals with blood type O are bitten twice as much as those with type A.

• Body Odor and Bacteria: The presence of certain bacteria, lactic acid, and carbon dioxide emissions play significant roles.

• Physical Activity and Body Temperature: Elevated body temperature and increased breathing rate attract mosquitoes, explaining why pregnant women and those exercising are more susceptible.

Preventative Measures:

• Protective Clothing: Wearing light-colored and loose-fitting clothing can reduce attractiveness.

• Environmental Controls: Utilizing fans to disrupt mosquito flight patterns and eliminating standing water to prevent breeding.

• Insect Repellents: While Dr. Weingart acknowledges DEET's effectiveness, he personally avoids using it due to potential health concerns, although he concedes its efficacy in preventing bites:

  "It's not so much because of anything Rachel Carson wrote or environmental concerns, it's simply the fact that it didn't work anymore." [08:11]

7. The Future of Mosquito Control and Public Health

Dr. Weingart expresses cautious optimism regarding the ongoing battle against mosquito-borne diseases:

"I think we're winning, but it's a protracted war and it's been going on across our existence." [25:31]

While diseases like yellow fever and malaria show declining rates due to vaccination and control measures, others like dengue and West Nile are on the rise. The development of effective vaccines, especially for malaria, and innovative genetic modification techniques hold promise but require careful consideration to avoid ecological imbalances.

8. Final Thoughts and Takeaways

Concluding the discussion, Dr. Weingart reflects on his personal experience and newfound respect for mosquitoes:

"They're a remarkable creature and highly sophisticated, highly evolved. I don't kill them anymore if I don't have to." [17:33]

He emphasizes the necessity of balancing disease control with ecological preservation, advocating for continued research and responsible intervention strategies.

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Looking Ahead:

In subsequent episodes, Dr. Gupta and Dr. Weingart promise to explore practical tips for preventing mosquito bites, including an in-depth analysis of repellents like DEET and alternative methods.

Key Quotes:

• "Mosquitoes have had such an impact on our shared human history, that surprised me a bit." — Dr. Timothy Weingart [03:16]
• "Mosquitoes provide food for birds, bats, fish, and so they're vital to healthy ecosystems." — Dr. Timothy Weingart [12:59]
• "85% of what makes the individual person more or less alluring to mosquitoes is hardwired in our genetics." — Dr. Timothy Weingart [18:25]

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This episode serves as a compelling exploration of the intricate relationship between humans and mosquitoes, highlighting both the historical devastation caused by these insects and the ongoing efforts to mitigate their impact on public health without disrupting ecological harmony.

Transcript

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

You might be sitting in the park or by the pool. You could be on a hike, maybe in your car. Even when you hear it, there's a mosquito somewhere nearby.

[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

No.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Some think of them as just another summer pest. But truth is, humanity has been at war with mosquitoes since the very beginning.

[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

They have been the biggest killer of humanity across our existence.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

And there's a lot more at stake than just itchy bumps.

[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

You remove that mosquito species and the pathogen evolves. And now this mosquito species, which didn't transmit pathogens before, can now Transmit Malaria.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

That's Dr. Timothy Weingart. He's a historian and professor at Colorado Mesa University. He's also the author of a fascinating book called the A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator. Today, he's joining me to talk not just about their annoying and deadly past, but also how to avoid mosquito bites and the diseases they may carry. And even why some people are more attractive to mosquitoes than others. Here's a little hint. It might have something to do with your blood type. I'll tell you all about it. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, and this is chasing.

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[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

It's an amazing book and I'm just so curious because, you know, as a, as a doctor, someone who's interested in public health, I've been interested in mosquitoes for a long time because of their obvious impact on global health. You're a historian. So how did this come about for you?

Well, I Had written four books previously on, you know, kind of the minutia of academia and indigenous peoples and warfare, military history. And after my fourth book, I sat down with my dad, who's an emergency physician position back home in Canada. He said, well, you should write a book on malaria. And I kind of disparaged him and said, sure dad, I'll write a book on mosquitoes. And I started researching the historical impact of mosquito borne pathogens across our human existence. And once I, I kind of went down that rabbit hole, it was, it was amazing.

Yeah, that. I think that was. There was a lot of fascinating parts of the book, but that part of it, I think was the most interesting. The idea that mosquitoes have had such an impact on our shared human history, that surprised me a bit. I mean, again, the idea that these little pesty little creatures cause so much human suffering and death. I knew that, although a lot of people don't realize that just how significant that is. But the impact on history, wars, whether or not certain parts of the world were going to be conquered or not, is that what surprised you the most as well?

I think just some of the stories, for example, Scotland giving up its independence with the acts of union to England because of a failed colonial expedition in Panama that was cut to pieces by mosquitoes in yellow fever, or, you know, the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown, or the African slave trade, or the fact that, you know, because northern hemisphere countries don't have endemic malaria, they're able to develop more affluent economies because they're not continuously suffering from malaria. It's more seasonal in the northern countries.

The thing that sort of struck me is deet, just those types of broad sort of insecticides and things like that. When you look historically, how big an impact has that had, you know, spraying large areas of the country with, you know, protective agents, potentially toxic agents. How much of an impact did that have?

So seemingly they're able to circumvent all our frontline weapons and relatively quickly. They evolve very quickly and so too does malaria, which is why it's still the scourge of humanity. It's important to note too for your listeners that of the 3700 mosquito species, there's only a couple hundred that are capable of transmitting or vectoring those pathogens. And most don't do it very well at all. And it's also important to note that a mosquito untethered from a pathogen is harmless.

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Right.

[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

And so these potential pathogens that they're carrying, they are just the carriers of this. And it is those Pathogens that are really the fundamental harm. I mean mosquitoes are irritating, but it's what they potentially could do to us in terms of transmitting disease that you're really focused on. Can you give some context for this? Obviously malaria is the big one, but West Nile, Zika, dengue, just provide some context of how significant mosquitoes are in public health.

So the simplest way to classify mosquito borne pathogens is in three groups. The first one is worms that are transmitted by mosquitoes that block the lymph nodes in the lymphatic system of humans and canine heartworm. If we love our dogs, that's caused by mosquitoes as well or transmitted by mosquitoes. The second one is the virus class which is yellow fever, West Nile dengue, all the encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis, Venezuelan encephalitis. But the fastest growing mosquito borne pathogen is dengue, which is in this virus class. And roughly 4 to 5 billion people on the planet currently are at risk of dengue, which is known as breakbone fever. And then the third is malaria, which is a very sophisticated protozoan parasite, which again there's five human malarias, but amphibians, reptiles, all birds were all infected with malaria which evolved 400 million years ago from an aquatic algae.

And you can see where we're sort of going to go with this conversation if there weren't mosquitoes, is the thinking, obviously we don't know for sure, but is the thinking that those pathogens might spread in a different way?

We don't know. And that's part of the dilemma with CRISPR and, and using gene drives and genetically altered mosquitoes and releasing them into the wild to either create stillborn offspring or only male offspring, thereby bringing down that specific mosquito species. So we don't know. And again, sometimes, often the case is we are our own worst enemies when it comes to certain factors in our, in our societies, whether that's the dawn of agriculture, which Jared diamond calls the worst mistake humanity ever made, or climate change with fossil fuels. So there's so many unanswered questions when we look at CRISPR and gene editing in the field of mosquito research.

Let me just going back to the war on mosquitoes that you sort of outlined in the book. There were cities in the United States, New Orleans, for example, Philadelphia, Boston, that used to be dramatically affected by many of these mosquito borne illnesses, yellow fever. And now we don't hear about it very much. Certainly in those places, don't really hear about it at all unless there's Imported cases.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So what does that mean?

[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

What's the lesson there? Because those cities obviously have been able to control this.

So I think when we look at our war with mosquitoes, it's twofold. We can attack the delivery system, which is that specific mosquito species, or we can try to attack the pathogen itself. The surgical use, if you will, of DDT to spray around windows and, and doors and screens for houses and then attack, you know, mosquito breeding grounds and standing water actually caused very little environmental degradation. What happened is when DDT was commercialized in 1949 for farmers globally, they literally carpet bombed the planet with ddt. And so what happened is the average mosquito species became immune to DDT within seven years. So when America bans DDT and the rest of the world follows in the early 70s and mid-70s, it's not so much because of anything Rachel Carson wrote or environmental concerns, it's simply the fact that it didn't work anymore. Mosquitoes became immune to ddt.

So how worried are you? How worried should we be then? Because you describe an environment where some of what have now been sort of referred to as tropical diseases are finding their way increasingly north. I think you're saying because of the, the way that the climate is changing, how, how worried should the average person be, for example, living in the United States?

I think the problem with a lot of diseases or pathogens, if it's out of sight, it's out of mind, and then money doesn't go towards either eradication or research for these pathogens in malaria certainly is one of those where it's viewed as an African disease or, or disease of, you know, countries that are not as affluent as the western world or the northern countries, if you will. So I think there is a bit of a wake up call when we are going to start seeing transmissions of, or epidemics of chikungunya, dengue, maybe even malaria in the United States. In most of the books I've read and looking at the dialogue about the banning of ddt, certainly there was some knowledge that, you know, it caused cancer and stayed and was, you know, passed down the food chain. But largely it was, it just didn't work anymore. So we're not going to use something that doesn't work anymore.

Is there a version of this that could work? What, what else do we have in our, in our toolbox?

The efficacy of DDT has come back because mosquitoes have lost their immunity to it in certain places. So some countries are actually proposing the reintroduction of DDT for use again on screens in bed nets or around doorways. And obviously vaccines are trying to be developed. The yellow fever does have a vaccine. It was created by South African American just prior to the second World War. But other than that, where malaria is again, is not a virus in the traditional sense. So traditional vaccines don't work for malaria. But there is research and field studies on malaria vaccines, certainly really in the last 10 years and then and CRISPR, as we had mentioned, gene editing mosquitoes and releasing them in the wild to bring down that mosquito species.

So before we talk about that possibility, because I am intrigued by that and I've done a lot of reporting on various uses for crispr, but there's a couple points you make about this in the book. But just before we get to that, are there things that mosquitoes are good for? I mean, is it, is it critical to have mosquitoes as part of our overall well functioning environment?

Yeah. And again, it's important to note that nobody is promoting the eradication of all mosquitoes from the planet. But mosquitoes are pollinators. Females bite to secure a blood meal, to grow and mature their eggs and just be a good mom. But mosquitoes are pollinators. They drink pollen. So the head of the American Orchid association actually sent me an email when I was researching and said that if we eradicated a certain mosquito species or mosquitoes, then certain species of orchids would actually go extinct because they're only pollinated by mosquitoes. So I'm a big Star wars fan and I kind of equate it to a balance to the force. And when you disturb the balance to the force, there's unintended consequences, like the rise of the sith. So mosquitoes provide food for birds, bats, fish, and so they're vital to healthy ecosystems. And again, when we start tinkering with the natural homeostasis of ecosystems, there can be consequences that are either unintended or maybe known about. And we do it anyway.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

We're going to take a quick break here. When we come back, we'll talk about the dos and don'ts of mosquito bite prevention.

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[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

It's really interesting to just sort of think about this philosophically, that it's sometimes hard to predict the downstream effects of whatever you may do. So where do you come down on the idea then of even eradicating certain species of mosquitoes? Because even if it's not all mosquitoes, those mosquitoes may have some benefits to our to our ecosystem.

Right? And I don't take sides on this point that, as the book is about, the mosquito is the number one killer of humanity across our existence. By far, it far outpaces human beings. So mosquitoes, or the pathogens act as a Malthusian check on unbridled human population growth as well. I mean, that's largely the function that mosquitoes have served is to, for lack of a better word, dispose of humanity. So perhaps that is a function of mosquitoes is to check population growth for humans, given that we don't really have other natural predators other than ourselves or other pathogens. There is usually two sides to everything. One is it would certainly reduce immense amounts of suffering, specifically of children, because the malaria burden, 90% of the malaria burden falls on children under the age of five because their immune systems just can't handle the overload of, of the pathogen. And pregnant women to that point too. But also the danger is, if we remove that mosquito species, will the pathogen evolve and to be able to transmit by another mosquito species and it just fills the void somewhere else.

But just to table set for a second, you are not opposed to finding treatments and maybe even vaccines or cures for malaria?

I think it is the right thing to do. How we do that, I suppose, is the question whether it's through vaccines. And again, as you know, with crispr, there's just so many unanswered questions and potential pitfalls with the use of crispr, whether that's on the mosquito or dire wolves or anything else for that matter. So that one I'm not sure about.

Yeah, I, I look, I think there's going to need to be significant guardrails around this. Let me, let me ask you. So first of all, after you wrote the book and he did this deep.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Dive, did you live your life any.

[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

Differently in terms of just avoiding being bitten by mosquitoes?

No, they're just a kind of a part of life. I actually gained the respect for mosquitoes, if anything. And I also don't get bitten very much. So if you put my sister here, she'd have a thousand bites and I might have one or two. So when they land on me or I see them or, you know, they buzz, I have more of a, I guess a greater respect for mosquitoes. And I maybe won't go so far as to use the word love, but they're a remarkable creature and highly sophisticated, highly evolved. I don't kill them anymore if I don't have to. Why?

I'm sure you must have asked, why are they going after your sister and not you?

So 85% of what makes the individual person more or less alluring to mosquitoes is hardwired in our genetics. So unless you're going to CRISPR yourself, you can't get rid of that. It has to do with blood type. So blood type O is their vintage of choice. And people with blood type O on average get bitten twice as much as people with blood type A and blood type B falls somewhere in between. Has to do with the bacteria on your skin, how much of certain bacteria you have, your body odor, lactic acid, how much carbon dioxide you emit, your body temperature. So there's a lot, which is why they go after Pregnant women because their body temperature is slightly elevated. So that is why they prefer some people over others. And again, they hunt by both sight and smell, so they can smell carbon dioxide. So if you're exercising or breathing heavily, they'll smell that and be attracted to it. And they also think of kind of night vision goggles almost. They see heat signatures, so they're a miraculous creature. And again, it has to do with your biological genetic makeup. And then the 15% that is not genetic is clothing you wear. They like dark clothing. Fragrances. If you apply fragrances, they're attracted to fragrances. So a little bit is within our control. But it's better to be stinky. Like, don't shower, except clean your feet. The bacteria on our feet, which is the same one that ripens a lot of cheeses, is an aphrodisiac to mosquitoes, which is why we find we get bit around the feet and ankles a lot is because of our bacteria on our feet.

So first of all, I am blood type. Okay. I like to work out. It's pretty hot where I live. When I'm working out, I'm breathing a lot of CO2. So based on all those things, I'm probably a bit of a magnet for mosquitoes.

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[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

And I mean, that's not a. It's not fool some people with blood type O, obviously. My sister is blood type O, so I mean she. And she gets devoured. I'm blood type B and I get the odd one, but they don't generally like me. So the easiest things to do obviously are just cover up and don't go out at dusk when they are feeding or primarily feeding. Citronella candles really don't work. The ceiling fans on your porch do work. Like moving air works like fans. DEET does work. But again, I don't use mosquito repellent. But I know people who lather themselves in it, but they miss this little spot on the back of their calf and she'll find the chink in our armor. I mean, again, she, she's.

I just assumed there was a halo effect if you if had Danon. But you're saying even a small patch of skin.

Yep. They can still still be a target.

I've heard if you're drinking beer, you're a bigger target. True.

So drinking alcohol raises your body temperature slightly. So again, yes. Be given the way they hunt with the scent of the CO2 and then kind of an infrared heat signature. So when your body temperature is slightly elevated from drinking, they will then come after you instead of Me.

So again, so 85% of that you're saying is sort of hardwired, if you will. How big a predictor is blood type O compared to how much CO2 I produce or what kind of bacteria might be on my skin? Is that the biggest sort of predictor?

And all the research that I looked at blood type was a huge predictor.

This is good data you're citing. I mean, this isn't anecdotal observation.

No, this is like scientific method research, studies done, whether it's in all over the world on blood type and CO2 bacteria, lactic acid, all those genetic factors that go into it. So it's not simply one or another. It's kind of the combination of the package of genetics.

DEET seems to have mixed sort of, you know, people have mixed sort of thoughts on deet. Some people think of it as very toxic. They prefer the organic bug sprays, things like that. Where do you come down on all that?

I don't use any bug spray. The only time I use DEET was in the military training in New Brunswick in Canada, which in the spring it was, I mean, we were outside for what, three, four months training and it was vicious. I don't know if there's any studies either way that are conclusive to, you know, it's a carcinogenic or that it really doesn't harm us. So I mean, you may know more about that than, than I do. It does work. I will say that.

Well, it works. And it also seems to be recommended by large medical organizations, especially if you're going through mosquito infested areas. They will say use an insect repellent with deet.

Yeah, and, and I suppose if you're going into regions where, you know, there's, you know, dengue or malaria or yellow fever, I'd rather use it for, you know, three weeks in Cambodia than get dengue. So that's my personal opinion only, obviously.

Are you based on just everything you've read and people you've talked to, are you optimistic that there will be a malaria vaccine? I mean, you said it's a very tricky pathogen. What do you anticipate?

I am optimistic actually, because we're starting to see more interest in it and more money going towards research, whether that's from, you know, government organizations or the Gates foundation or academic organizations. So the problem is, is right now it's a multi shot vaccine. And we know even with our Covid experience of getting the shot and then the booster, people don't necessarily want to go back for a second One or, you know, so there's a lot of work that still needs to be done and the efficacy rates seem to be, seem to fall quite precipitously with the more recent ones. But given, I guess, this increasing awareness and more attention being paid to, even if it's, you know, slightly marginal compared to what it was, I do have hope for a malaria vaccine within the, you know, near future, next decade, given the research. And not just one group of academics or researchers working, there's multiple organizations working on various vaccines. So I'm optimistic and I hope whoever.

Is listening that may be involved with that kind of research knows, I think, how important it is, but also to make sure, just to say it from the outset, that it's gotta get to the people who need it and who would benefit from it the most. I mean, I think it's one of the challenges always with these incredible new medical technologies is that sometimes the people who would most benefit don't always have access. And, you know, I'm not trying to be preachy, but, you know, what a shame it would be for it potentially to be out there and not. Not giving as much benefit as it could, for sure. Overall, do you think we're winning or losing our war with mosquitoes as you describe it?

I think we're winning, but it's a, it's a, it's a protracted war and it's been going on across our existence. If we look at specifically, I mean, yellow fever rates are obviously way down from what they were prior to the vaccine during kind of the 16, 1700s during colonization. I mean, yellow fever ran amok. So malaria rates are also decreasing annually over the last kind of 10 to 20 years, which is a very good thing. But again, dengue rates are increasing, so. And West Nile rates are increasing, so there's a bit of a give and take. But if all is equal, the chances, the death rates from dengue and West Nile are. I mean, they don't even compare to malaria or yellow fever. So I would like to say we are winning and then we'll see what happens with, as you just mentioned, vaccines for malaria, Wolbachia bacteria, with mosquitoes specifically for dengue. And then West Nile is fairly benign anyway, so it's not a huge concern.

Well, congratulations. I mean, really, it's such an enormous, audacious process to write something like this and you spent years doing it and I congratulate you on getting it done. But then also the tremendous success of the book as well, you know, it's such an important topic and as you mentioned at the beginning, it was kind of remarkable to me that there wasn't more written about it, considering how much mosquitoes have impacted us from a health standpoint. Sure. But historically, that was that part of it was really interesting to me. I didn't know it. I learned a lot from you. So if your goal was to teach, you know, consider me one of your students. And thank you for that.

Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And as I said, I learn a ton from, from it as well, so I benefit from it like everybody else. So thank you.

Well, thank you for spending some time with us.

Oh, I'm happy to be here. Thank you. I appreciate the invite to to come chat with you.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

That was my conversation with Dr. Timothy Winegard. Now, I do know for many of you, the big question still is how do I stop mosquitoes from biting me? So don't worry, we're going to dig into that more on Tuesday's episode, including more information on deet. Thanks so much for listening.

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[Michael Ian Black]

Have I GOT News for your Ears, the spin off of the hit CNN television program have I GOT News for you. I am your host, Michael Ian Black. My guest this week is humorist, writer and host of Judge John Hodgman. I already see you shaking your head.

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I do that for podcast purposes. No one can hear me shake my head.

[Michael Ian Black]

Humorist? Is that a word you would ever use to describe yourself?

[Dr. Timothy Weingart]

Yeah, I have to.

[Michael Ian Black]

Have I Got News for your Ears? Releases new episodes every Wednesday, wherever you find your podcasts. And also maybe the places you don't.