Nathan Lane, Voice of Timon, Improvised One of “The Lion King”'s Most Famous Lines: 'They Wrote a Song About It!'

Nathan Lane is opening up about the improvisation that led to an iconic moment in The Lion King

NEED TO KNOW

• The Broadway star, 70, shared that his improvised line even led to a song in the film

• Lane played the meerkat Timon in the 1994 Disney hit, which went on to become the highest-grossing movie of 1994 at the domestic box office

Nathan Laneis opening up about the improvisation that led to one of the most iconic moments inThe Lion King.

During an appearance onThe Viewon Thursday, March 12, the 70-year-old actor— who is set to star in a new Broadway production of Arthur Miller'sDeath of a Salesmanon April 9— spoke about working with one of the talk show's longtime hostsWhoopi Goldbergon the 1994 Disney hit, in which he played Timon, the meerkat, and Goldberg played the hyena Shenzi.

"Did you ad-lib any of that?" fellow host Sara Haines asked during the episode. "Because I get Nathan Lane from that character. And I mean that in the best way."

"Oh, sure!" the Broadway star responded, sharing candidly that he doesn't "really remember" exactly what he improvised during the recording process, but that there definitely "was some improv going on."

"But apparently, this was an ad-lib that I did, I said, 'What do you want me to do? Dress in drag and do the hula?' And then they wrote a song around it," Lane revealed.

The writers were clearly thrilled with the added line, as they later created a short luau song for Timon, in which he wears a grass skirt and coconut bra while dancing to lure hyenas away.

"But you know, Ernie Sabella, who plays Pumbaa...we would record early in the mornings, and we were doingGuys and Dollsat the time on Broadway," Lane continued. "And to amuse me, he would make fart noises while doing his lines [demonstrates blowing into his hand to make a fart noise]. And I would laugh."

"Then they put it in the movie andthey made Pumbaa the first flatulent character in a Disney film," he joked.

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Speaking toEntertainment Weeklyin 2024, Lane and Sabella spoke about how their meerkat and warthog characters were created specifically for them during the audition process.

Lane told the outlet that the pair "improvised a bit and had a lot of fun" while auditioning for the three low-level villain roles, but figured they hadn't landed any part in the movie until Disney reached out and said they wanted to write new characters tailor-made for the duo.

"They said they were developing these new characters called Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and a warthog, for us," Lane said, "and that we would be the comic relief in this Shakespearean tale of lions."

The pair also spoke about the origins of the warthog's farting, which Sabella admitted was a way to entertain Lane "and to get the ball rolling" after a long weekend of Broadway performances.

"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," he said. "That's the story of how Pumbaa became the first and only Disney character with flatulence."

The Lion King —which also starred Goldberg, Jeremy Irons,Matthew Broderick,James Earl Jones,Rowan Atkinsonand more — went on to become the highest-grossing movie of 1994 at thedomestic box officeand is still a beloved family film decades later.

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bySator Tenet

in

March 14, 2026

Nathan Lane, Voice of Timon, Improvised One of “The Lion King”'s Most Famous Lines: 'They Wrote a Song About It!'

Nathan Lane is opening up about the improvisation that led to an iconic moment in The Lion King NEED TO KNOW ...

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Dwyane Wade offers message for Trump administration on trans kids

AUSTIN —Dwyane Wadeis a basketball star, a philanthropist and father of atransgender daughter, Zaya. He's been outspoken in his support for the 18-year-old, and amid an increasingly hostile environment forLGBTQ+ rights,he's walking the walk. He executive produced a documentary called "The Dads," which premiered March 14 at SXSW.

It chronicles a group of fathers of transgender and gender-expansive children over the course of a year at retreats in rural Maine and Minnesota, where they bond over their shared experience. The United States has roughly 2.8 million transgender people, according to theWilliams Institute. That's less than 1% of the country's population.

If the title "The Dads" sounds familiar, that's because it comes from the Emmy Award-winning 2023 Netflix short of the same name. This follow-up feature documentary's tone shifted to one of anger and frustration as these dads grappled with the fallout of PresidentDonald Trump's reelection to the White House and theSupreme Court decisionthat upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

Some dads of trans and nonbinary kids asked themselves the question: Is it better to stay in the country and fight for my kid, or pack my bags?

"Sometimes you think you're alone on the journey of life, a lot, especially in this,"Wadesaid of what drew him to the project. "I thought I was alone, and then I realized there's other dads out there. There's other dads of color out there. You just never know the community."

Satisfaction withLGBTQ+ acceptancehas ticked down in the United States after climbing for a decade amid debates aboutgender-affirming careandtransgender athletes.

"We need to understand what the human toll is on these families. All of these laws, all of this misinformation, all of this hate, and they are the antidote," director Luchina Fisher added of the titular dads. "They are showing what unconditional love looks like in action."

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The choice to be a part of the documentary was "a no-brainer" for Wade. "I'm so glad we did it," he adds, "because it needs even more uplifting today than it did yesterday."

Wade has choice words for anyone – from parents having trouble accepting their trans kids, to the Trump administration – who don't understand his perspective.

"I always keep it simple," he said, "I think everything in our world can be solved with a four-letter word called love. That's what I lead with. That's what I try to give to every human being, every person that I meet. We all are in this world trying to figure it out. No one has the answers to it. We got a lot of questions. We don't have all the answers. I don't subscribe to anything or anyone trying to treat someone less than."

In case you missed:What to know about gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary communities

Wade knows that everyone in this world has their "own uniqueness." "That's the beauty in this world, is that we all are not the same. I I dislike the ones who try to make us all be the same, because that's just impossible."

Fisher had a few words for the administration directly: "Watch the film. Please see what this is costing families. No one should have to choose between country and family. These dads are patriots. They just want to protect their families like other fathers, and they're doing the best that they can. We need everybody, allies, to stand up for these families so that they can live and let their kids flourish and thrive just like other families."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Dwyane Wade, the Trump administration and trans kids in 'The Dads' doc

bySator Tenet

in

March 14, 2026

Dwyane Wade offers message for Trump administration on trans kids

AUSTIN —Dwyane Wadeis a basketball star, a philanthropist and father of atransgender daughter, Zaya. He's been outsp...

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The Jamaican Bobsled Team Marvels at “Cool Runnings' ”Lasting“ ”Impact, Says Fans Were Going 'Crazy' at Winter Olympics (Exclusive)

The Jamaican bobsled team credits Cool Runnings for inspiring global fans and boosting their recognition overseas

NEED TO KNOW

• Cool Runnings, which was loosely based on the debut of the Jamaican national bobsled team at the 1988 Winter Olympics, came out in 1993

• "It's an honor to see the team getting so much love because we have put in a lot of work," Nimroy Turgott tells PEOPLE

The Jamaican bobsled team has fans all around the world, largely thanks to the 1993 movieCool Runnings,which was loosely based on the national bobsled team's debut at the 1988 Winter Olympics

Nimroy Turgott and Shane Pitter, both members of the 2026 team that competed in Milan, spoke to PEOPLE about the impact of the Disney movie and what it meant to continue to represent Jamaica on the world stage. Turgott says that it was an "amazing" feeling to represent Jamaica in the recent Winter Olympics.

"Just the thought of it is mind-blowing, a typical country competing in winter sports. We went out there and showed the world that Jamaica can compete and will compete in winter sports," he shares.

Pitter, the team's bobsled driver, or pilot, emphasizes that the notoriety from the film "is a very good thing."

"On the block, I was standing there and the crowd at the bottom of the finish line couldn't wait for us to get down the track for them to call out, 'Jamaica, Jamaica,Cool Runnings,'" he says. "So the fans are going crazy for us and we know that that would have happened at the Olympics, but we take that as a motivation and do our best."

Cool Runningsstarred John Candy, Leon Robinson, Rawle D. Lewis, Doug E. Doug and Malik Yoba, to name a few. The movie, which was largely fictional, showcased the hurdles the group faced while training to become the first Jamaican bobsled team.

When the team competed in the 2022 Olympics, COVID-19 restrictions were still in place, so fans couldn't interact in the same way. At the 2026 Winter Olympics, however, the team felt all the love.

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"We got the opportunity to interact with fans and everybody wanted a piece of Jamaica," Turgott says. "Everybody wanted a pin or to get a photo, something with Jamaica, and we appreciate the support, we appreciate the love that we got. At times, honestly, we feel like we're getting support even from Mars."

He continues, "It's an honor to see the team getting so much love because we have put in a lot of work, we are putting a lot of work and knowing that here in Jamaica, we don't have the infrastructure or the support that we really need, and to go out and put our best foot forward to represent Jamaica at the highest level, it's an honor, and it's something that I will go over and over and over again to."

Pitter agrees that without their supporters, they "wouldn't be recognized, and also without the movie, we wouldn't be recognized."

"We don't really get the same support in Jamaica, but once we head overseas, whether to America or Europe, there's a lot of fans just waiting for us to get there. They have been supporting us all the way throughout the season," Pitter shares.

Turgott says the whole experience was "an amazing opportunity" and they even felt the love from major stars like Lewis Hamilton, Major Lazer and Snoop Dogg, the latter of which joined the team at their Airbnb to cook together. Airbnb hosted the team during the games, allowing them to cook meals together, spend time together and watch races together.

"We could focus on ourselves, and we bring our Jamaican vibes and culture to the Olympics and Airbnb," Pitter shares. "There is a very big couch in the Airbnb, so all of us would sit on the couch and watch races and stuff we needed to work on. We are together as a team, and that's when our bond starts to get stronger and stronger and stronger, as we do everything together."

Read the original article onPeople

bySator Tenet

in

March 14, 2026

The Jamaican Bobsled Team Marvels at “Cool Runnings' ”Lasting“ ”Impact, Says Fans Were Going 'Crazy' at Winter Olympics (Exclusive)

The Jamaican bobsled team credits Cool Runnings for inspiring global fans and boosting their recognition overseas ...

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Winless drivers look to change their luck in Las Vegas

The NASCAR Cup Series stays out West this weekend for Sunday's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and if last year's spring race was an indication, perhaps a first-time winner is in order at the 1.5-mile desert track.

After Tyler Reddick swept the season's first three races, Ryan Blaney was a first-time winner of sorts last weekend. He became the initial driver to keep the surging 23XI Racing star out of Victory Lane in 2026 and shifted the headlines to another organization for a change.

So what's in store for the campaign's fifth race?

Maybe a genuine first-timer like a year ago.

Last March, driving one of the sport's true legendary cars, Josh Berry surprised the stock-car racing world by scoring his inaugural Cup victory and handing the Wood Brothers a second straight season with a win, following former driver Harrison Burton outdueling future Hall of Famer Kyle Busch in Daytona's 2024 summer race.

A native of Hendersonville, Tenn., Berry played the part one season ago that Blaney reprised in Phoenix, using the No. 21 Ford to snap Christopher Bell's hot start that also produced three straight wins -- at Atlanta, COTA and Phoenix.

Oddly, the last five drivers to win in the No. 21 scored their first career victories: Elliott Sadler (2001, Bristol), Trevor Bayne (2011, Daytona 500), Blaney (2017, Pocono), Burton and Berry.

Maybe this week one of the Chevrolets belonging to Spire Motorsports, which has been a fast group thus far, provides a new winner.

Spire drivers Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell have two wins apiece in careers that have combined for 868 starts, leaving the organization's third driver -- 23-year-old Carson Hocevar -- as the only remaining hotshoe who has not taken the checkers.

However, the prevailing feeling in the NASCAR world is, "It's coming."

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Ross Chastain has widely been regarded as the toughest driver in the Cup Series to pass, but Hocevar, a native of Portage, Mich., is definitely taking away some of those votes.

Riding 14th in the current standings with 103 points, 122 behind leader Reddick, Hocevar was strong in the first half of 2025 in search of that initial win but fizzled in the second half.

Hocevar was 30th one year ago at Vegas and 32nd the last time the series visited Nevada in October -- certainly poor numbers -- but he has been the focus of discussion recently because of his hard-nosed, give-no-quarter, no-apologies racing style.

"While I think we show speed and can compete up front anywhere, we proved last year we really excel at the intermediates, including the mile-and-a-halves," said Hocevar, who has positioned himself inside the top 16 thanks to 27 stage points. "We won the pole at Texas, started on the front row at Charlotte and had good speed at Vegas last year."

Added Hocevar, one of only two drivers to earn stage points in all four races: "They are my favorite tracks, and I am expecting to be really competitive come Sunday."

That kind of optimism may be worth a gamble this weekend in Vegas.

On Saturday, Toyotas were fast in the qualifying session, and it was Joe Gibbs Racing's Camrys leading the charge.

Bell scored his 15th career Cup Series pole and fourth in Las Vegas by turning a lap of 187.156 mph in his No. 20 as JGR claimed the top three spots.

Teammates Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs will start second and third, respectively, while Bubba Wallace grids fourth in the No. 23 Toyota of 23XI Racing.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson and his No. 5 Chevrolet will start fifth.

--Field Level Media

bySator Tenet

in

March 14, 2026

Winless drivers look to change their luck in Las Vegas

The NASCAR Cup Series stays out West this weekend for Sunday's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and if ...

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