Funny / The Lion King (2019)

• John Oliver as Zazu was already bound to get some of these:
  • Zazu tries to bring up his brother who thinks he’s a woodpecker on two separate occasions, and neither Mufasa nor Scar could seem less interested, though in the case of Scar, it's more murderous disinterest. What makes it funnier is that in his panic, he tells Scar it was his "brother"; when discussing it with Mufasa, he claims it's his "cousin" who thought he was a woodpecker.
    Zazu: I had a cousin once who thought he was a woodpecker! He would slam his head... into trees. Our beaks are not built for that. He was regularly concussed!
  • His Hurricane of Puns during the morning report, just because John Oliver sounds so proud of every one.
  • This new one: "The birds are tweeting at four in the morning! I'm like "birds, we get it!" At 4 AM, there's nothing to tweet about."
  • "Come on! It's the news!"
• Most of Scar's one-liners are too dark to be funny as in the original but this quip had a few audience members chuckling:
  Scar: If you wish to kill something, you might want to stay downwind.
  Simba: I know how to hunt, Uncle Scar!
  Scar: Then let's pray we're never attacked by a beetle.
• The scene where Timon and Pumbaa first find Simba. Pumbaa immediately knows on sight that he’s a lion cub, but it’s not until seeing Simba’s teeth that Timon realizes it, and he promptly jumps a foot in the air and speeds away.
  • Pumbaa begging Timon to take in Simba. He makes it sound like he wants to keep Simba as a pet.
• During "Hakuna Matata" (audio soundtrack here):
  Pumbaa: And I got downhearted! Every time that I... farted? Are you gonna stop me?!
  Timon: No, I'm not, you disgust me!
  • They also lampshade Simba growing to an adult since they started the first verse.
  • Pumbaa's backstory ("When he was a young warthog!") is made funnier as the scene now shows a baby Pumbaa farting in the watering hole. Cue every animal in the area running away in disgust with the exception of a butterfly that falls straight into the water... and then Pumbaa farts again, prompting a frog to leap out of the water.
  • Timon quickly gets annoyed at Simba continuing to showboat after the song should be over, and argues they should never have taught “their” song to anyone else.
• Kamari’s constant annoyance with Azizi trying to get close to him.
• The "live bait" scene.
  Timon: What's your plan for getting us past the slobbering guards?
  Simba: Live bait. (He, Nala, and Zazu look at Pumbaa)
  Pumbaa: (Beat) ...That's a great idea. Those guys could never resist fresh meat! So all we need to do is find something that's like big, plump, and juicy, maybe like a gnu... (notices Simba and co. staring at him) ...*In the same tone as before* Why's everyone looking at me?
• And instead of doing a hula dance, Timon does his best Lumiere. Complete with the sequence being introduced exactly as it is in Beauty and the Beast (2017), an immediate laugh out loud moment for those who know that film well.
  Timon: Be... our... GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! (he and Pumbaa run as the hyenas chase them)
• Pumbaa asking Timon if they can keep Simba as if they were getting a puppy, and Pumbaa even says he would volunteer to clean up Simba's "mess" and wants to name him "Fred".
  • Timon's response to the "cleaning up [Simba's] mess" bit is just as good.
  Timon: You'll be his little mess! He's gonna eat you and use my body as a toothpick.
• After the montage of Simba growing up there's a Fade In to a topi grazing who hears some rustling behind him. He looks up again and sees a lion attempting to attack but then relaxes when he realizes it's Simba trying to catch butterflies. He says he's glad it's Simba and "not a real lion" and then quickly stumbles over his words and tries to backtrack what he says, and ends with, "yeah, I'm gonna go."
• Zazu mentioning how Simba and Nala will be married someday. They don't get it at first, so he has to say, "To each other". Nala even asks Simba if he speaks bird. Shahadi Wright Joseph's line delivery on that one is hilarious.
• Like in the original, young Simba excitedly trying to get Mufasa up so he can go patrol with him. He’s so tiny that he easily slides off his much larger father’s head, and when he becomes more insistent in his prodding, you can see Sarabi’s ear perk up to listen, but she quickly tells Mufasa his son is awake, clearly happy to cast Simba’s excitement off on her mate. Both make it clear that this is far from the first time Simba has done this.
• During the sequence of Simba’s tuft of fur making its journey, a bird takes it back to their nest to use as extra material. The moment it flies off again, however, its mate flicks it out of the nest, clearly annoyed. You can just imagine it as being like a person getting rid of an ugly throw pillow their spouse bought without their say-so.
  • Shortly after, it lands on the branch of a tree that a giraffe is munching from, and gets eaten. The camera fades to black, like, "You know what, on second thought, this doesn't need to be The Oner."

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