Jesse Tyler Ferguson had no qualms about Nathan Lane telling an adult joke to his 5-year-old son, Beckett.
Ferguson, 50, said he recently invited Lane, 69, and Pamela Adlon at his house for dinner during the last episode of his “Dinner is for me” Podcast. Before the meal, he recalled using Lane’s very famous Disney character, The Lion King Timon, as the point of contact for Beckett and her son Sullivan, 3, to help them recognize their impending guests. (Ferguson shares her two sons with her husband Justin Mikita.)
“[Lane] I was in town filming something and we tried to meet for dinner and it was just easier. I was like, “Do you just want me to cook for you? I’ll cook for you. And he came, Modern family explained the star. “And I said to myself: ‘You know Nathan, of course. You’ve listened to him, you’ve known his voice since [Timon in] The Lion King.’ So I played “Hakuna Matata” and on the way to school they were singing “Hakuna Matata”. And I said to myself, “It’s Nathan coming to dinner!” »
He continued: “So that night, Nathan comes with Pam, and Nathan walks in, and my son says, ‘I know who you are!’ He called him “Athan”. “Athan, Athan, Athan, I know who you are! You come from “Hakuna Matata”, you come from The Lion King!‘”
Although Ferguson’s children were clearly excited, the Only murders in the building The star was reportedly less than enthusiastic about being recognized for one of her past roles. “Nathan was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Like he was stopped in the street by a fan,” Ferguson recalls with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Nathan, he’s a 5-year-old. Like, forget it!'”
Lane’s response didn’t deter the elder Ferguson, however, as Beckett returned shortly after with something hidden behind his back. When he asked Lane to guess what he had, the Birdcage star didn’t hold back.
“He said, ‘Athan, Athan, Athan, guess what I got?'” Ferguson recalled. “And Nathan says, ‘Hepatitis.’
Although the joke was aimed more at adults, Ferguson said he wasn’t bothered by Lane’s character.
“I loved him so much because he was authentically himself,” Ferguson confessed, adding that Lane said children weren’t his favorite audience. “He says, ‘I don’t mind kids, but I don’t identify with them either. And I hear an opportunity to joke and that’s what I’m going to give.'”
Lane’s status as Disney royalty has made him a legend to younger generations. THE The Emmy winner starred as the adorable jungle meerkat Timon in the original three films Lion King films, one half of the film’s comedy duo with Ernie Sabella Nathan Lane made a joke about hepatitis to the 5-year-old son of Jesse Tyler Ferguson who played the warthog Pumba.
Although there is a lot of childish humor in each Lion King — including Pumbaa’s fart noises, which came from Sabella trying to make Lane laugh during the early morning recording sessions — there was an adult-leaning joke that made its way into the film thanks to Lane’s improvisation.
During his appearance on an April 2025 episode of the SiriusXM show Conan O’Brien needs a friend show, Lane admitted that the scene where Timon puts on a skirt and distracts a group of hyenas came from him “messing around” in the studio.
“I don’t even remember half of it, but apparently I said, ‘What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do hula?’ for some reason,” Lane recalled of the now-famous phrase. “It must have been a long day. And then they made a song out of it.”
Lane, who came out publicly as gay in 1999, nearly expanded his children’s film resume with another classic, 1996’s The One. Space Jam. However, the Guys and dolls the actor claimed during a May 2025 interview with Vanity Fair that he was not considered for the role due to homophobia.
“I was told [being gay did] impact of a film that didn’t really interest me: Space Jam. I was up for the role where the guy from Seinfeld I ended up playing,” Lane said, referring to the role of Michael Jordan’s journalist who finally went to Wayne Knight. “I was up for the role. Apparently the director saw me hosting the Tony Awards and thought it suggested I was too gay to play the role. So, thank God, I didn’t have to do it. Space jam.»
