Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella reveal the origin of Pumbaa's farts in “The Lion King”

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Pumbaa can clear the savannah after every meal, but the warthog wasn't always so gassy.

Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, who voiced meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa, respectively, in 1994's The Lion King, tell Entertainment Weekly that Pumbaa's flatulence actually came out of a particularly rambunctious recording session.

"We were doing Guys and Dolls," remembers Lane. "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."

Sabella remembers the gag happening one day after a long run of Broadway performances. "We did a five-show weekend, Friday, Saturday, Saturday, Sunday, Sunday," he recalls. "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 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."

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Sabella and Lane aren't just responsible for the farts — the characters of Timon and Pumbaa wouldn't exist at all without them. The duo was doing Guys and Dolls on Broadway when called in to audition for the hyenas in the film, then titled King of the Jungle. "He came out from his audition, and I said, 'Could we read together?'" says Lane. "'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."

Adds Sabella: "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."

They thought perhaps they'd bombed the audition until a few months later when they got a call from Disney informing them that two new characters were being developed specifically for them to play. "They said they were developing these new characters called Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and a warthog, for us," says Lane, "and that we would be the comic relief in this Shakespearean tale of lions."

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From there, Lane and Sabella did every recording session together, marking the first time in Disney history that two voice actors have recorded all their lines together. Because the roles were written specifically for them, they had a great impact on the development of their characters. Based on early sketches and suggestions that Timon's voice should be higher-pitched, they honed in on the sound of the sidekicks.

"They said, 'You're doing Guys and Dolls, and that's the right energy for these two characters," remembers Lane. "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."

Sabella also looked to another iconic screen duo for inspiration. "Because we only got our pages, we didn't know what the movie was about," he says. "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 two continued to improvise and ad-lib throughout their recording sessions, but after 30 years, they're no longer sure what was scripted and what was a result of their banter. "Apparently, I ad-libbed this line, 'What do you want me to do? Dress in drag and do the hula?'" Lane says. "Which then led into this song. Or maybe there was the song, and I knew we were going to do the song, so I said that because it made sense for where we were going. I don't really remember, but I said it."

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It's been 30 years since The Lion King first premiered, but it remains as popular as ever. So much so that Lane and Sabella are appearing in Disney’s The Lion King 30th Anniversary – A Live-to-Film Concert Event at the Hollywood Bowl. The live concert, which plays the Bowl May 24 and 25, will feature Lane and Sabella performing a live rendition of "Hakuna Matata," as well as their verses in "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" Jeremy Irons, Billy Eichner, and Jennifer Hudson will also participate in the event.

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

Lane and Sabella are thrilled to be celebrating the film's 30th anniversary, but more than that, they're humbled to have been a part of Disney history (a history that continued beyond the original Lion King into direct-to-video sequels and a television series, Timon & Pumbaa, that won Lane a Daytime Emmy award).

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Related: The Lion King stars look back on the making of the animated hit

"As a kid, I always loved Disney animated films," says Lane. "And so to have become a part of that history, it's very gratifying. It's not fun to think that it's 30 years ago, but it's a very, very fond memory and something to be proud of."

"I'm so glad it turned out to be the defining character of my career," concludes Sabella. " It's the greatest Disney movie of our time, and I think it'll be seen and enjoyed a hundred years from now."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.