The Real Story Behind Pumbaa's Flatulent Noises In 'The Lion King' Revealed

Timon and Pumbaa, the popular meerkat and warthog from Disney's 'The Lion King,'had some memorable scenes where Pumbaa had gas. But why did Disney decide to include that in the movie? Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella are revealing the truth.

Lane and Sabella voiced Timon and Pumbaa, respectively, in Disney's 1994 animated classic. 30 years later, they are revealing some of the secrets to filming.

The animated film debuted in 1994 and has since become one of Disney's most beloved and iconic pieces of work. The story is set in the African savanna and follows a young lion named Simba, the son of Mufasa, the king of the Pride Lands.

Simba's father teaches him about the Circle of Life, which connects all living things. Shortly after learning that one day he will become king and rule the Pride Lands, Simba's uncle, Scar, plots to kill both Mufasa and Simba to take over the throne. While he succeeds in killing Mufasa, Simba survives, which is when Scar convinces Simba that he is responsible for Mufasa's death, causing Simba to flee the Pride Lands.

Simba then meets Timon and Pumbaa, who teach him their carefree lifestyle, summarized by the iconic phrase "Hakuna Matata" -- which means "no worries."

30 years after its release, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella sat down with Entertainment Weekly to talk about their filming experience.

"We were doing 'Guys and Dolls,'" Lane recalled. "So, 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. 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."

"We did a five-show weekend, Friday, Saturday, Saturday, Sunday, Sunday," Sabella added. "And then we had an early morning Disney session, and we usually had a 10 o'clock session, but this time it was like a 9 o'clock 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 continued. "He kept laughing, going, 'Don't do that, don't do that.' 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."

While Lane and Sabella brought Timon and Pumbaa to life, they were originally auditioning for other roles. "He came out from his audition, and I said, 'Could we read together?'" Lane said of Sabella when auditioning for the hyenas in the movie. "'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, "We got into this little phone booth, and we read the material and knowing our rhythms and comic timing, we just took off. 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."

After seeing the two interact and the duo's chemistry, Dsney decided to create two new characters for Lane and Sabella. "They said they were developing these new characters called Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and a warthog, for us," Lane told the outlet. "And that we would be the comic relief in this Shakespearean tale of lions."

After agreeing to the new roles, Lane and Sabella went into the recording studio together every time, marking the first time in Disney history that two voice actors recorded all their lines together.

"They said, 'You're doing 'Guys and Dolls,' and that's the right energy for these two characters," Lane recalled. "They're Damon Runyon-esque characters. So, Timon became a Brooklyn Jewish meerkat. 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," Lane continued.

Sabella also revealed that they looked at another iconic duo for inspiration. "Because we only got our pages, we didn't know what the movie was about," he said. "We just knew that we were two funny guys and that warthogs and meerkats are small animals. I was doing a buddy movie. I said, 'Alright, you'll be Robert Redford, and I'll be Paul Newman.'"

'The Lion King is currently streaming on Disney+.