The Lion King stars Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella reveal how Pumbaa became 'the first and only Disney character with flatulence'

23/05/2024

The warthog Pumbaa holds the unusual distinction of being the first-ever Disney character to fart on screen in The Lion King.

And now Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, two of the most popular stars from the 1994 animated classic, are shedding light on how the odd milestone was achieved.

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the film's 30th anniversary this year, Lane — who voice the meerkat Timon — revealed that Sabella started making 'flatulent noises' to get a laugh out of him and to lighten the mood when they were recording their dialogue back in 1992

At the time, the theatre legend was working with Sabella in a Broadway revival of Guys And Dolls at the same time that they were doing voice work for The Lion King.

'We would record in the mornings sometimes, and we'd be a little sleepy. And Ernie, to entertain me during the recording, would make flatulent noises,' Lane shared. 'While he was doing his dialogue, he would make fart sounds to make me laugh. And they eventually incorporated that into the character and the song.'

The Lion King stars Nathan Lane, 68, and Ernie Sabella, 74, revealed how the warthog Pumbaa (L) became the first Disney character to fart onscreen in The Lion King

He said Sabella started making 'flatulent noises' in the recording booth to get a laugh out of him; seen in 2015 in LA

Lane shared that the two actors were starring together in the 1992 Broadway revival of Guys And Dolls at the same time that they were recording The Lion King. He said Sabella started making 'flatulent noises' in the recording booth to get a laugh out of him

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Sabella said he and Lane were doing five performances in a row over the weekends, with one nighttime show on Friday and two shows each on Saturday and Sunday.

The two were worn out by the time Monday rolled around, but they still had to do a morning recording session.

'So, we get there, and we're pretty beat up from five shows, and to get the ball rolling, I just started making these sounds as he was reading his lines. He kept laughing, going, "Don't do that, don't do that,"' Sabella recalled.

'I said, "I'll stop." And then I kept doing it. That's the story of how Pumbaa became the first and only Disney character with flatulence,' he said.

Sabella's playful demeanor in the sound booth even appears to have influenced some of the dialogue and songs, which feature references to passing wind.

The stage and screen stars also revealed that Timon and Pumbaa weren't even originally parts of the The Lion King, which was titled King Of The Jungle when they were auditioning for it.

The two actors had tried out as members of a trio of hyenas, who were ultimately voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings.

'[Sabella] came out from his audition, and I said, "Could we read together?"' Lane recalled. '"It'll be easier to do since it's three different characters, and we know each other." So, we went in and we improvised a bit and had a lot of fun.'

Sabella added that their comic rhythms matched up perfectly and they 'just took off.'

The actors auditioned together to be members of the trio of hyenas, eventually voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings; Lane seen in February in NYC

But the filmmakers were so taken by them that they wrote new characters, Timon and Pumbaa, that they could play; Sabella seen in 2018 in NYC

The two actors were given an unusual amount of influence over the characters. Sabella's fart noises in the recording booth ended up making the character the first to pass wind in a Disney movie

'When we got done, I looked up and I saw [then-director] Roger Aller, and his mouth was open. He was just staring at us,' he added.

Lane and Sabella thought the dual audition hadn't gone over well with the creative team after they didn't hear anything for months, but then they got a call informing them that the production was going to add two new characters to be voiced by them.

'They said they were developing these new characters called Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and a warthog, for us,' Lane recounted, 'and that we would be the comic relief in this Shakespearean tale of lions.'

Voice actors almost always record their lines separately, even when their characters are speaking to each other, and then the dialogue is lined up later, but Lane and Sabella's chemistry was so impressive that the two did every recording session together, marking the first joint voice recording sessions in Disney history.

As their chemistry during auditions led to the creation of Timon and Pumbaa, Lane and Sabella were even allowed to give input on how the voices should sound.

Their time working on Guys And Dolls influenced the characters, as Lan said they were 'Damon Runyon-esque characters,' referencing the journalist and writer whose short stories were adapted into the classic musical.

'So, Timon became a Brooklyn Jewish meerkat,' Lane explained. 'And Ernie very cleverly, did this vocal thing, which was a combination of two actors — Michael Gatso and Wallace Beery.

'In the old days of vaudeville, there was a lot of dialect comedy, but now we're not allowed to do that. But in animation, you can get away with it,' he said.

Sabella added that the duo only got the script pages for their scenes, so they had no idea what the rest of the film was like.

Because of that, he chose to imagine that they were taking center stage in the mold of another famous screen duo.

'We just knew that we were two funny guys and that warthogs and meerkats are small animals. I was doing a buddy movie,' he recalled. 'I said, "All right, you'll be Robert Redford, and I'll be Paul Newman."'

Lane and Sabella will be back together on stage at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday, May 24, for Disney’s The Lion King 30th Anniversary — A Live-to-Film Concert Event.

Lane and Sabella will reunite on Friday, May 24, for Disney’s The Lion King 30th Anniversary — A Live-to-Film Concert Event, which features the original film with the two stars joining Jeremy Irons, Billy Eichner, Jennifer Hudson and North West to perform the songs

The show will feature the original version of the film on screen, along with live musical performances from Lane and Sabella with Billy Eichner, Jeremy Irons, Jennifer Hudson and even Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter North West.

Lane and Sabella will be singing Hakuna Matata, and they will also cover Timon and Pumbaa's verses in Can You Feel The Love Tonight?.

'I initially thought it would be, we came out and sang songs,' Lane admitted. 'But it's a whole extravaganza they're putting together. There's costumes and scenery.'

In addition to featuring the original film and live songs, some of Elton John and Tim Rice's songs that were added into the stage version of The Lion King will also be featured.