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32 Years Ago, ‘The Lion King’ Made Disney History With This Wild Joke

Ernie Sabella said his recording-booth fart noises helped turn Pumbaa into Disney’s first flatulent character.

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When moviegoers flocked to the theaters to see The Lion King in 1994, little did they know that they’d be watching something truly historic.

As you’ll no doubt recall, after Simba gets rescued by Timon and Pumbaa (as voiced by Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella), they perform the song “Hakuna Matata” for him. “He found his aroma lacked a certain appeal / He could clear the savannah after every meal,” Timon says of his friend Pumbaa. Pumbaa takes it from there, singing, “I’m a sensitive soul, though I seem thick-skinned,” but before he can get to the next line, he lets loose........

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