Zazu (The Lion King) performer Rowan Atkinson
Zazu
Zazu (voiced by Rowan Atkinson in The Lion King; Jim Piddock in Timon and Pumbaa's Jungle Games and The Lion King Simba's Mighty Adventure; Michael Gough in Timon & Pumbaa; Edward Hibbert in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and The Lion King 1½; Jeff Bennett in The Lion Guard; John Oliver in the 2019 film) is a red-billed hornbill and majordomo to Mufasa and later Simba. After Mufasa's death, Zazu becomes a prisoner of Scar before Pumbaa breaks the bone cage, releasing him when Simba returns to the Pride Lands. He eventually acts as a scout and advises Simba on royal protocol.
In Timon & Pumbaa, it is revealed that Zazu is not only a lion king's majordomo; he is a jungle administrator. In the episode "Zazu's Off-By-One Day", he is shown to be responsible for counting the population of the animals.
In the musical, Zazu is a puppet controlled by an actor dressed in blue striped clothes and a bowler hat, much like a stereotypical butler. Zazu's blue feathers have been replaced with white and the puppet is partially constructed from parachute silk with a slinky contained in the neck for ease in movement.Also appearing in the 2019 remake of The Lion King, Zazu plays the same role as in the original version, but this time, he is introduced to Timon and Pumbaa and helps out in the battle by pecking Kamari numerous times.
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