Timon and Pumba are
an animated meerkat and warthog duo introduced in Disney's
1994 animated film The Lion King.
Timon was portrayed through his many appearances by Nathan Lane (in
all three films and early episodes of the show), Max Casella (the
original actor in The Lion King Broadway
musical), Kevin Schon (in certain episodes of the show), Quinton
Flynn (in certain episodes of the show), Bruce Lanoil in
the Wild About Safety shorts
and Kingdom Hearts II, and
while Pumbaa is voiced by Ernie Sabella (in all of his animated
speaking appearances), and was portrayed by Tom Alan Robbins in the
original cast of the Broadway musical. In the upcoming live-action remake,
the characters will be portrayed by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen respectively. Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella first came to
audition for the roles of the hyenas, but when the producers saw how well they
worked together they decided to cast them as Timon and Pumbaa. Lyricist Tim
Rice however was pulling for Rik Mayall (for Timon) and Adrian
Edmondson (for Pumbaa) to play the roles, as he got the idea for the
lyrics to "Hakuna Matata" by watching their show Bottom.
