Video: Billy Eichner Reflects on Early Encounters with Lin-Manuel Miranda on JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE

Billy Eichner and Lin-Manuel Miranda are both involved in Disney's new live-action prequel Mufasa: The Lion King, which hits theaters later this month. However, the two performers go way back. 

"I met Lin in 2004 in New York when we were both struggling actors/writers/improvisers," Eichner recalled during a recent visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live. "He had an improv hip-hop troupe called Freestyle Love Supreme...and I had my little live show I was doing, which is where the Billy on the Street videos started. We were performing in tiny little black-box theaters together [and] no one knew who we were."

Since then, the two artists have both achieved huge success in their careers and Eichner noted that it is "pretty cool" that they "started over 20 years ago and now get to do this big Disney spectacular together." Eichner voices Timon in the new film, with Miranda writing original songs. In the interview, Eichner also talked about singing with original Lion King voice actor Nathan Lane in a Hollywood Bowl concert earlier this year. Watch the interview here.

Exploring the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, “Mufasa: The Lion King” enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny—their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe. “Mufasa: The Lion King” releases only in theaters Dec. 20, 2024.