| Rizzo the Rat | |
|---|---|
| The Muppets character | |
Rizzo in A Tail of Two Piggies episode of The Muppets | |
| First appearance | The Muppet Show (episode 418; 1980)[1] |
| Created by | Steve Whitmire Jim Henson |
| Voiced by | Steve Whitmire (1980–2016) Other: Ben Diskin (Muppet Babies 2018–2022) |
| Performed by | Steve Whitmire (1980–2016) |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Muppet rat |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | American |
Rizzo the Rat is a Muppet character, created and originally performed by Steve Whitmire.[2] He is a fictional rat who appeared on The Muppet Show and numerous films, with a starring role in the 1992 film The Muppet Christmas Carol.
The character is particularly associated with Gonzo the Great, with the two sharing a double act since 1992. Whitmire based the character on Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy and performed him until 2016.
Rizzo is a streetwise and sarcastic rat with a New Jersey accent.[3] He is a self-proclaimed acrophobe.[4] His humor can be risqué, as in the TV series The Muppets he was given the line, "Is ABC going to be OK with 'Mother Teresa on a stick'?" To avoid potential difficulty with real-life censors, alternative lines were filmed.[5]
Rizzo's family has been mentioned in Muppet media. He has 1,274 brothers and sisters, as told to Gonzo in The Muppet Christmas Carol. In 2016, Disney announced Rizzo came from a family that traditionally cooked pizzas.[6] This addition to his story was in light of a new pizzeria at Disney's Hollywood Studios dedicated to Rizzo, called PizzeRizzo.[7]
Rizzo's name is derived from Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo character in Midnight Cowboy.[8] Steve Whitmire created the character,[9] based on rats he had previously made out of bottles.[8]
Rizzo first appeared in episode 418 of The Muppet Show, as one of many rats following Christopher Reeve backstage.[8] He can be seen mugging and reacting to practically every line of dialogue. He remained a scene-stealing background figure through the final season, occasionally performing with Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem.[8] By the time of The Muppet Christmas Carol, Whitmire had been performing Rizzo for around 12 years.[9]
After the series, he appeared in The Great Muppet Caper as a bellboy in a fleabag London hotel. He has appeared in most later Muppet projects, including The Muppets Take Manhattan[10] and Muppets Tonight. In The Muppet Christmas Carol, he developed a double act with Gonzo,[11] with director Brian Henson and the crew envisioning Rizzo as "pain-in-the-neck sidekick."[9] The characters narrate, break the fourth wall, and Rizzo challenges Gonzo's claims to be Charles Dickens.[12] The Gonzo and Rizzo partnership was continued in Muppet Treasure Island, with Rizzo again offering a humorous critique of the handling of the story,[13] and in Muppets from Space. Along with Kermit and Gonzo, Rizzo gave an audio commentary for the Muppets from Space DVD.[14]
Rizzo appears as a background character in the 2011 film The Muppets, without a spoken dialogue, although he is seen singing along during the finale, as well as the scene in which Kermit the Frog addresses a large crowd of Muppets. In Muppets Most Wanted (2014), and the short feature Rizzo's Biggest Fan on the Blu-ray release, the character calls for more screentime.[15] Rizzo returned to prominence in the TV series The Muppets, where he was on a writing crew with Gonzo and Pepe the King Prawn.[16]
In 2017, it was announced Whitmire departed from the Muppets franchise, including the part of Rizzo,[17] after being dismissed from the part of Kermit the Frog in October 2016.[18] Disney has not since announced a new performer for Rizzo, though Matt Vogel was cast as Kermit.[19]
