{"id":1175112,"date":"2026-02-13T19:39:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=558683"},"modified":"2026-02-13T19:39:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:39:35","slug":"all-the-fart-jokes-in-the-lion-king-are-ernie-sabellas-fault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/all-the-fart-jokes-in-the-lion-king-are-ernie-sabellas-fault\/","title":{"rendered":"All the fart jokes in The Lion King are Ernie Sabella\u2019s fault"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Disney\u2019s 1994 animated classic, The Lion King<\/a><\/em>, is a gorgeous, heartrending movie with a soaring soundtrack<\/a>. It has one of the most devastating deaths in kids\u2019 movie history, a compelling story about rising up to take responsibility, and a heartfelt love story. And it also has fart jokes<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Those fart jokes are mostly centered around Pumbaa, the bumbling warthog who makes up one half of the movie\u2019s comedic duo. The other half is Timon, the wise-talking meerkat voiced by Nathan Lane. According to Lane, the reason Pumbaa is such a gassy character is because his voice actor, Ernie Sabella, kept making fart jokes.<\/p>\n

On SiriusXM\u2019s Conan O\u2019Brien Needs a Friend<\/em><\/a>,<\/strong> Lane sat down with host Conan O\u2019Brien and recounted how Sabella leaned on fart-noises in order to wake Lane up during their early morning recording sessions. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe go in to record very early and we’re tired,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so I’d be having coffee and we’re going to start and Ernie would just start making fart noises in the middle of, you know, he’d say, Timon [fart noise]. Just to make me laugh, get me going. And then they put it in the movie, which is why Pumbaa is the first flatulent character in a Disney film.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gassy gags weren\u2019t the only improvised moments that made it into the final film. The two comedic actors bouncing off each other \u2014 Sabella doing a voice that was a hybrid of character actor Wallace Beery and The Godfather\u2019s Michael Gotso and Lane \u201cjust doing a Brooklyn Jewish meerkat\u201d \u2014 naturally lead to some hilarious lines. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was screwing around,\u201d said Lane. \u201cI don’t even remember half of it, but, apparently I said, what do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula <\/em>for some reason. It must have been a long day. And then they made it a song.\u201d<\/p>\n

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