Trying to Remember The Lion King (Kind Of)

Summary

The Nightly – “Trying to Remember The Lion King (Kind Of)”

Podcast: The Nightly by Hatch Podcasts
Hosts: Josh (A) and Sophia (B)
Date: December 20, 2025

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Overview

In this cozy, late-night episode, Josh and Sophia play “Do You Remember?”—a game where Sophia tries to recall the plot of The Lion King without any fresh viewing. The result is a meandering, affectionate, and frequently hilarious retelling fueled by nostalgia, fuzzy memories, and tangential pop culture chat. The tone is gentle and silly, ideal for winding down before bed.

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Major Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Banter: Nighttime Greetings and Family Wordplay

• The episode opens with musings about greetings at different times of day and funny dad-isms.
  • Sophia reminisces about her dad teaching odd words:
    “He really would teach us the word concatenate, which just means to connect.” (02:16)
  • Josh recalls his dad using "G WOS" for “goes without saying.” (01:17)

2. Game Introduction: “Do You Remember?”

• Sophia explains: “I’m going to try to recall the plot of a movie that I, like, certainly don’t remember.” (02:31)
• The chosen film: The Lion King — both hosts realize their recollections are spotty at best.

3. Struggles and Laughter: Reconstructing The Lion King

• Key Characters and Confusion:
  • Simba, Nala, Mufasa, and Scar are named, though details blur.
    • “So maybe the Lion King dies.” (06:44 – Sophia)
  • Quick detour into Disney’s use of “live action” for the CGI remake:
    • “Words mean things!” (03:22 – Josh)
• Attempts at Plot Recall:
  • Sophia admits: “This is literally me, like, going home, being like, y’all, I got another book report tomorrow, and I did not read it.” (05:37)
  • Through banter, they deduce:
    • Simba’s father Mufasa is killed by Scar (Simba’s uncle), who orchestrates a stampede.
    • Simba runs away, is befriended by Timon (meerkat) and Pumbaa (warthog), and adopts “Hakuna Matata.”
  • Voice cast trivia emerges as Josh tries to recall who voiced whom, often with comedic self-doubt.
    • “One of the older Jeremys.” (08:39 – Josh, on Jeremy Irons as Scar)
    • “I wanna say Matthew Broderick, but I have no idea where I’m pulling that from.” (09:44)

4. Missing Pieces and Classic Moments

• Confusing the “Circle of Life” scene (Simba’s birth) with his coronation:
  • “That’s when they put the paint on his forehead and lift him up because they’re like, you’re gonna be the king?” (08:45 – Sophia)
• Notable songs are fondly remembered:
  • “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” “Be Prepared,” “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King,” “Hakuna Matata”
  • “The music is, I believe, Elton John and Bernie Taupin...” (15:02 – Josh)
• Sophia imagines what should happen next if she were writing it—prompting gentle correction and laughs:
  • “In Sofia’s Lion King, of course… he gets in some type of trouble. Maybe he gets in, like, a trap or something.” (13:10)

5. Pop Culture Tangents

• The Lion King as stage play: discussions of puppetry, costumes, and seeing musicals with family.
  • “My grandmother took me years ago when I was a kid... Her vibe was like, if there’s singing in it, it’s fine for kids, I think.” (04:10, Josh)
• Favorite childhood Disney films:
  • Josh: Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast
  • Sophia: Lilo & Stitch, Mulan
    • “I rewatched it a couple years ago and I was like, this holds up and made me cry.” (17:47, Sophia on Lilo & Stitch)

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Memorable Quotes & Highlights

• On “Live Action” remakes:
  “Live action means, like, you got real lions and real warthogs doing their thing.” (03:28 – Josh)

• On recalling the movie plot:
  “We started out had, like, the tone of doing a presentation on a book you didn’t read for sure...” (05:31 – Josh)

• On Mufasa’s fate:
  “Shout out to Mufasa. Rest in peace. To the best guy.” (06:52 – Josh)
  “You were a real one.” (06:55 – Both)

• On Simba’s emotional journey:
  “When he was like, I’m so psyched to be king... Everyone’s like, you’re just like a little kid. You’re not ready yet... going away is part of the growing up for him.” (15:19 – Josh)

• On the sheer joy of half-remembered nostalgia:
  “We killed that. We really rocked it. I think we remembered the Lion King about as well as anyone has ever remembered...” (16:46 – Josh)
  “We remembered so hard.” (18:22 – Sophia)

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Key Segments & Timestamps

• Nighttime greetings and family word humor: 00:34–02:29
• Introduction to “Do You Remember?” game: 02:31–03:01
• Attempts to recall The Lion King plot: 03:09–14:34
  • Simba’s family and Scar’s betrayal: 06:46–08:38
  • Discussion of movie’s songs and voice actors: 09:48–11:35
  • Simba’s journey—a “rumspringa”: 15:19–15:36
• Pop culture digressions and other Disney favorites: 17:15–18:22
• Wrap-up: feeling tired from all the remembering: 18:22–end

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Tone & Atmosphere

• Warm, self-deprecating, and conversational—more like two friends on a late-night call than a polished recap.
• Gentle, meandering, and playful with plenty of laughter over gaps in memory.
• Occasional affectionate teasing and genuine nostalgia for ‘90s Disney movies.

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Summary

This episode of The Nightly is a charming, relaxing meander through collective memory, centering on The Lion King. It’s less about facts and more about how pop culture burrows into our brains, sometimes staying vivid, sometimes hilariously foggy. The hosts’ chemistry, tangents about musicals and childhood, and joy in the process make it a delightful bedtime listen—even if you can’t remember all the details yourself.

Transcript

[A]

Hello. You're about to drift into an episode of the Nightly, a podcast designed to help you unwind and relax. For the full phone free immersive light experience, visit Hatch Co. Enjoy. Hello and good evening. Hi everyone. I'm Josh.

[B]

And I'm Sophia. Welcome to the Nightly from Hatch, a slumber party for pop culture lovers.

[A]

Sophia, I said good evening, but that always makes me feel a little like a vampire.

[B]

Good evening. Good evening. It is a bit. It's quite formal, but then if you say good night, that's like goodbye.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So it's like there needs to be something else.

[A]

Right. Good morning is always a hello and good night is almost always a goodbye.

[B]

Yeah. When I was growing up, my dad would say in German, for some reason, like old. He would say like, guten Tag, which is like, is that good afternoon or something? I don't know. Anyway, he would do lots of strange things. But.

[A]

My, my favorite, my dad. Linguistic thing is he and a friend from work used to say this all the time. But my dad would say when something is really obvious, he would say G WOS as an acronym for goes without saying. And it's like the same amount of syllables. It's just like a very funny dad bit that I think about all the time.

[B]

I really tried to think if I could figure out what that meant.

[A]

There's no way.

[B]

No.

[A]

Do you think you would have got there?

[B]

I don't think I would have. Maybe. I don't know. But probably not.

[A]

It's a tricky one. I had to backtrack to remember what it was.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. Like, I don't know. My dad would say like just. He would just have weird things that he would like, do to us, but not do, but like say. And he was like obsessed with teaching us like very obscure words that I'm like. That is like completely meaningless to me now, but seemed like so important to you at the time.

[A]

Do you have. Is there one that's like, stuck with you?

[B]

He really would teach us the word concatenate, which just means like to connect. I didn't know.

[A]

I don't even know that word.

[B]

That's a new word. And I don't know why it was so important to him, but it was really important to him for us to know that.

[A]

And you've retained dead.

[B]

I. Well, he said it so many times, it's like seared into my memory. Okay, so we are going to play do youo Remember? Which is an amazing game where I'm going to try to recall the plot of a Movie that I, like, certainly don't remember.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And you're going to help me out.

[A]

I love this idea. What movie are we going to remember together?

[B]

We're going to do the lion, which is tough. Cause I really. It's a. I think I. I don't know much about it.

[A]

Okay. But you have seen it.

[B]

Of course. Of course.

[A]

Have you seen the new, like, they call it live action, but it's all cgi.

[B]

They need to stop saying that when it's cgi. Cause it's like, so that's just absolutely not live action.

[A]

Like, I get so frustrated about, like, words mean things.

[B]

Of course they do.

[A]

Live action means, like, you got real lions and real warthogs doing their thing.

[B]

Or people in the suits.

[A]

I'll take people in suits, bare minimum. You're right. People in suits. Not animating over the suits, even. No suits. Like a mascot suit?

[B]

Yes, yes, exactly. That would be, honestly horrifying.

[A]

But it would be so funny to see a mascot. I mean, I guess the stage show is kind of like that, but is it.

[B]

They're not in suits, though. They're probably with face paint and stuff.

[A]

And they have puppets. There's big. Cause it's not just. Yeah, it's like, so. It's really spectacular. I haven't seen it in a long time. I think my grandmother took me years.

[B]

Ago when I was a kid.

[A]

That's sweet. Yeah. She would take us to, like, whatever was playing theatrically that was, like, more or less appropriate for children. So, like, I saw Lion King. I was probably, like, 15. And then when I was younger, she would take us to other stuff that I was like, I don't understand any of this. Her vibe was like, if there's singing in it, it's fine for kids, I think.

[B]

Which is, like, kind of true.

[A]

Yeah. Not untrue.

[B]

What was she bringing you to, like, burlesque or something?

[A]

No, no, no. It would be, like, very close to Closer to Chicago. Like, we saw. I think I said Gypsy with her.

[B]

Okay, okay.

[A]

And South Pacific and Damn Yankees, for sure.

[B]

More adult themes.

[A]

More adult themes. That was the. That was the category of musicals my grandmother would take me to. And my little sister, well, she's like.

[B]

She wants to have fun, too.

[A]

Yeah. Is she gonna take us to, like, Clifford the Big Red Dog, the musical?

[B]

Oh, of course not. That'd be crazy.

[A]

No offense to Clifford.

[B]

Did they make that a musical? Okay. No.

[A]

Yeah. I was just kind of freestyling.

[B]

You were riffing. You were joking.

[A]

Just goofing her head in the Pillow fort.

[B]

Okay. So thinking about the Lion King.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

For me, when we do this, I do just want to reiterate. It's not like it's like I have, like, touch points. It's not like I know where it begins or where it ends.

[A]

We started out had, like, the tone of doing a presentation on a book you didn't read for sure, where you're.

[B]

Like, I mean, that is what this is like. This is literally me, like, going home, being like, y', all, I got another book report tomorrow, and I did not read it, and we have to make a aboard. Okay. So I know that there's, like, Simba.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And I know there's someone named Nala as well.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I know.

[A]

And they're both lions.

[B]

They're lions.

[A]

We should clarify.

[B]

Thank you. Thank you. And I know that someone is becoming king. Right.

[A]

Okay. I, I. I heard what you said. Like, I was listening when you were like, I don't have any idea what happened in this movie, but this has gone off the rails so substantially faster than I even imagined.

[B]

I don't think I've seen this movie since I was truly and legitimately a child. And my memory is actually so bad, it's unbelievable.

[A]

I probably saw it in the latest in my teens or twenties when I would babysit.

[B]

Yeah, that's true. That didn't happen to me. But I think in the beginning, someone dies.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So maybe the Lion King dies.

[A]

There we go. There we go.

[B]

And then they have to pick a new one. Mufasa. Yes. Shout out, Mufasa.

[A]

Shout out to Mufasa. Rest in peace. To the best guy. Rest in peace.

[B]

Mufasa.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You were a real one.

[A]

You were a real one, Rip. And Simba is his son.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And he has the song before Mufasa dies. Cause this would be rude, dissing after your dad dies, but he was singing, I think he sings it before he dies, about how he just can't wait to be king.

[B]

I know that song. Yeah, he's great.

[A]

There it is.

[B]

I'm not gonna sing it.

[A]

No, no, you got it.

[B]

But you guys know about it.

[A]

We all know that you know.

[B]

We all know the song, but. Okay, so what is his name again?

[A]

Simba or Mufasa?

[B]

Simba. Simba's like, I just can't wait to be king.

[A]

Yeah, he's.

[B]

He's singing. He sounds beautiful. Just picture it. And then Mufasa. Did Mufasa die in maybe a power struggle or something?

[A]

Yeah. His brother Scar, also a lion, engineered a stampede, I believe Right. I think he kind of triggered the stampede or created the conditions for a stampede. And then Mufasa died, I think. Fell from a cliff trying to save Simba from the stampede.

[B]

This movie sounds amazing. Yeah.

[A]

This is a classic. You're gonna love it if you get around to seeing it again. But I think the performers. I don't remember who played Nala, which is, of course, sexism. But the speaking voices were, I believe Simba was Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Mufasa was, I think, James Earl Jones.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And then I believe Scar was Jeremy Irons.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. One of the older Jeremys. Yeah.

[B]

Okay. So Mufasa dies.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's why I'm like, we're in the first five minutes still. And then. So then this is when they put the paint on his forehead and lift him up because they're like, you're gonna be the king?

[A]

No, no, no. Before. That's when he's born.

[B]

I think that's like. That's, like, right at the beginning of the movie.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're like, yes.

[B]

I would just say that's mostly what I remember.

[A]

Was that the rafiki. The monkey holdinger. The gibbon. Holding him up.

[B]

Yes. Yeah, yeah. Oh, and then. So wait, then he has little sidekicks.

[A]

He does have little sidekicks.

[B]

Right. And the sidekicks are like a lemur or something.

[A]

A meerkat.

[B]

A meerkat and a warthog. Right. And do you know their names?

[A]

Pumbaa is the warthog. Timon Meerkat.

[B]

See, and you say it, and I remember it, but it's just not in the recesses of my mind.

[A]

And I think. I believe one of them was Nathan Lane.

[B]

I think you're right.

[A]

And the other was. I wanna say Matthew Broderick, but I have no idea where I'm pulling that from.

[B]

Oh, my God. The two of those guys, they're like two peas and a fre.

[A]

I sometimes forget, because I see them, they seem to do their own thing a lot, which is very healthy. But then you see them together and you're like, oh, right. Of course.

[B]

I know. And they've been together for a long time. Okay, so what would you say happens after Mufasa dies?

[A]

So Simba, he's gotta get out of there. I think Scar is like, dude, people are gonna be so mad at you for making your dad all dead. So you gotta go, oh.

[B]

Because he's like, he saved you.

[A]

So it's like, oh, ye. So Simba gets out of town and Scar becomes the king. He elevates Hyenas to, like, a pretty prominent place in local government. It's not going well.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Wherever Simba has gone, he's hanging out with Pumbaa and Timon.

[B]

Yeah. He's with his little sidekicks.

[A]

They're doing Hakuna Matata. All the classics.

[B]

They are. Yeah. They are doing Hakuna Matata.

[A]

And that's what they call it. It's doing Hakuna Matata.

[B]

Yeah. They're like, let's do Hakuna Matata.

[A]

Oh, okay. I'm looking it up in our encyclopedia. And I was right about James Earl Jones. I was right about Nathan Lane. Matthew Broderick plays adult Simba. So that's where I was missing.

[B]

Okay, okay.

[A]

I was right about Jeremy Irons. Whoopi Goldberg plays one of the hyenas, which I knew but did not say out loud. And then Zazu, the parrot who's hanging out is Rowan Atkinson, who is Mr. Bean, famously.

[B]

Oh, amazing.

[A]

But in the remake, I believe it was John Oliver.

[B]

Right. Okay. So they're, like, going on their journey. I wonder. I guess what I'm wondering. I don't know if you have an answer to this, is what is driving Simba's journey? Like, he's just, like, running away. Or is he, like, in pursuit of something?

[A]

He was running away. He was like, I gotta get out of here. And then he finds Pumbaa and Timon, and they're having a nice time. He's just kinda like, this is what I do now. I'm a lion. I hang out with these little buds and we don't worry. Right. Hakuna matata. It means in the world of This. I don't know if this is an actual linguistic element or if they made it for the movie, but it means no worries. So they're like, we're just gonna chill. We haven't turned out good, especially because we've now befriended a lion. So there are no natural predators for a meerkat and a warthog that are friends with a lion.

[B]

That's so true. And I'm assuming that things. If I was writing the movie, which in many ways kind of are.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Things would basically be really bad at home because of Scar being in charge and the hyenas also kind of being, like, almost the co. Something, I guess. And I feel like probably Nala is, like, so sad.

[A]

Yeah. And so she's out hunting. Question mark. And she and Simba find each other, and they do kind of.

[B]

Okay. He didn't go far.

[A]

An erotic rekindling.

[B]

And then, I guess I'm, like, just gonna continue kind of what I would be. How I would be writing.

[A]

Okay, so what would happen next in.

[B]

Sofia's Lion King, of course. Like, just because I do have kind. I have a pretty basic handle on, like, what has to happen in Move and more in tv, but sometimes in movies. So I would say that obviously something maybe kind of bad has to happen to Simba. He gets in some type of trouble. Maybe he gets in, like, a trap or something. Right. And then he would have to free himself. And then he would kind of. Maybe Nala would tell him, like, things are not good.

[A]

Yeah. She tells him to come home. She's like, you gotta come back.

[B]

Yeah, we need you.

[A]

Your uncle is really.

[B]

Your uncle's evil.

[A]

He's made a mess of things.

[B]

Yeah. And so then I think that if I was writing this, once again, Simba would go back. There would obviously be a big power struggle between him and Scar. Cause, like, Scar, of course, does not want to let go of power. He's motivated by power.

[A]

That's right. He is motivated only by power.

[B]

By power. And hyenas. Yeah. Of course, in the classic. And then I would say that maybe there would probably be some type of physical altercation, fight between Simba and Scar to prove maybe who is the strongest lion and who really is the king. And of course. Of course, in the end, good would prevail. And it does. And Simba wins. And then he and Nala live happily ever after, and he restores balance to the animal kingdom.

[A]

This sounds right to me. Okay, here are some things that we missed that I like.

[B]

And please.

[A]

So before he comes back, right. Simba's like, I don't want to go back. I'm not doing it. And he looks up at the sky and he sees his father, Mufasa, speaking to him from the sky.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And he's like, you gotta do it, bud. It's your time.

[B]

We need you.

[A]

That's one thing that happens. Another thing. Oh, there's. Can you feel the love tonight? Right. That's part of it.

[B]

That's a song.

[A]

Some Love Tonight.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And the music is, I believe, Elton John and Bernie Taupin. I think they did a lot of the music for this.

[B]

I mean, that makes sense. I am remembering the songs. You were saying them, and they were so good.

[A]

Yeah. Really good songs. These are probably some of my favorite Disney songs.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then the other thing about it was when he was like, I'm so psyched to be king. I can't wait. Everyone's like, you're Just like a little kid. You're not ready yet. You gotta grow up. And then he does. That's like the going away is part of the growing up for him.

[B]

It's like his rumspringa.

[A]

It is kind of like his rumspringa. Yeah. Although you get to talk. Dick. Kristin. About rumspring. Do you know that she's written an Amish romance novel?

[B]

I don't know if I knew that, but that's amazing.

[A]

Yeah. You gotta ask her about it. We did a whole episode where she told me about it, and I had many questions.

[B]

Wow. Okay. I need to connect with her about that.

[A]

You gotta. It's fascinating.

[B]

Okay. Is there any other stuff that you remember that we missed in my. In kind of my. Not even retelling, but just my guessing of what would happen based on.

[A]

I think you did a pretty good job.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. I don't think. I don't remember, like, an intricate B story. Right. Where one of them had to, like, they were opening a cupcake shop or something. Pride Lands. I think there was, like, a journey. There's another. The other song that I remember is Be Prepared. Right? That's the big hyena song. And they scare him because he wasn't supposed to go. I think that's why he got in trouble. Cause I think he was. They were like, don't go over there. That's everything light touches. That's what we do as lions. But over there in the shadows.

[B]

Do not do that.

[A]

That's outside our jurisdiction.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. Well, we killed that.

[A]

We really rocked it. I think we remembered the Lion King about as well as anyone has ever remembered the Lion King.

[B]

I think so, too. I really think so, too. I don't think anyone could have done a better job at that. I'm trying to think of what movies I actually could remember of Disney movies, because I guess the Lion King, it just isn't one that I watched on repeat. But also, like, my memory is so bad. I feel like. Do you have ones that are, like, truly ingrained in your brain?

[A]

I think the two that I watched the most when I was young were. My era, like, kind of ended with the Lion King, but it was like Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King. We're like, that was my zone.

[B]

Right? And we were on repeat.

[A]

Oh, yeah. We had it on repeat. My sister and I were just like, rewind. Vhs. Rewind it all the way.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, totally. I think one that I've done for this before, that I've seen a bunch of times is Lilo and Stitch.

[A]

See, I've never seen Lilo and Stitch.

[B]

You should rewatch it. Or watch it. Not rewatch it. You should watch it. Because I rewatched it a couple years ago and I was like, this holds up and made me cry. And it was really good.

[A]

A new one that is with real people, I think, except for Stitch, obviously. They couldn't get the original Stitch.

[B]

Long dead. No.

[A]

But I've heard that that one is pretty delightful, too.

[B]

Okay, maybe I'll check that out. The only other one that I'm thinking of that I watch so much is Mulan.

[A]

Oh, yeah, I see that.

[B]

I watch Mulan a ton. And that has some pretty good music in it as well.

[A]

Yeah, some really good ones. But gosh, we remembered so hard tonight.

[B]

We remembered so hard.

[A]

I'm getting a little sleepy from all this brain power going towards the past, so maybe we'll have some Lion King dreams, but I gotta go to bed.

[B]

You know what? I'm completely beat from using so much of my brain power, so I'll talk to you next time. Good night, Josh.

[A]

Good night, Sophia.

[B]

Sa.

[A]

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