Don't fall asleep.

Of course I want.

It's too riveting.

This is the Extra Hot Great Podcast, episode 442 for the week of January 16th,

2020. 442 for the week of January 16th, 2000, 23.

I am all-mushrum pizza man, David T. Cole,

and I'm here with Dog Whooprudeau try to warn you, Tarayoriano.

And drug-dealing text patriot Omar Gallagga.

Could I interest y'all in some oxy?

Welcome to Extra Hot Great for another week.

Before we get into this topic, we wanted to just have a brief note. Sarah

is not with us. She had some life stuff come up. She will be back in a couple of weeks and we will

let you know what's going to be happening in the interim, in around the dial. But for now,

let us introduce our wonderful guest. He is a writer and journalist. You have heard with us many

times. It's Omar Gaia.

Omar. Oh, my. Hey, y'all. Hello from Texas. Welcome back. Yeah. Very, very on point.

Not far away. Yes. For this topic, which is HBO's The Last of Us. We open on a 1968 TV panel

featuring two different experts on pandemics. One's pretty sure the next one will be viral. The other's more worried about one that might originate in fungi. A virus can make a human ill. Fungi can change our brains. And as for the scoffing that fungi couldn't survive in human hosts because our resting temperatures do high. Well, what if climate change caused fungi to evolve? Cut to 2003. Guess what?

We see the first night of absolute chaos as our very own Austin falls to a fungal-borne disease.

As Joel, Pedro Pascal, and his daughter, Sarah, Biko Parker, are trying to get the hell out of town with his brother, Tommy, Gabriel Luna.

They run into a soldier who fatally shoots Sarah, and then we jumped 20 years after that.

The disease now identified as cordyceps is still rampant.

...