Rizzo the Rat

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.

Rizzo the Rat
The Muppets character
Rizzo in A Tail of Two Piggies episode of The Muppets
First appearanceThe Muppet Show (episode 418)[1]
Created bySteve Whitmire
Jim Henson
Voiced bySteve Whitmire (1980–2016)
Other:
Ben Diskin (Muppet Babies 2018)
Performed bySteve Whitmire (1980–2016)
In-universe information
SpeciesMuppet rat
GenderMale
NationalityAmerican

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.

Character

Rizzo is a streetwise and sarcastic rat with a New Jersey accent.[3] He is a self-proclaimed acrophobe.[4] His humor can be risque, 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]

History
Steve Whitmire was Rizzo's creator and original performer.

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 Muppets 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 did not immediately announce a new performer for Rizzo, though Matt Vogel was announced for the replacement for Kermit.[19]

Appearances

References
  1. Shemin, Craig (2014). Disney's The Muppets Character Encyclopedia. New York: DK Publishing. p. 151. ISBN 9781465417480.
  2. "Voice Of Rizzo the Rat". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
  3. Swank, Nathan (November 19, 2011). "Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and our Top Ten favorite Muppet characters". Flix 66. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  4. Brian Henson (Director); Jerry Juhl (December 11, 1992). The Muppet Christmas Carol (Motion picture). There are only two things... I hate: heights, and jumping from them
  5. Jurgensen, John (September 10, 2015). "The Muppets Grow Up and Go Back to Prime Time". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  6. Niles, Robert (October 2016). "Walt Disney World's PizzeRizzo to open on November 18". Theme Park Insider. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  7. Busdeker, Jon (July 18, 2016). "PizzeRizzo pizzeria to open at Disney's Hollywood Studios". WESH. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  8. Conradt, Stacy (February 10, 2009). "Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters". CNN. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  9. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (December 21, 2015). "How we made: The Muppet Christmas Carol". The Guardian. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  10. "'The Muppets Take Manhattan' production designer Stephen Hendrickson to visit Dietrich Theater for free film showing". Dallas Post. July 11, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  11. Dale, Timothy; Foy, Joseph, eds. (July 15, 2015). Jim Henson and Philosophy: Imagination and the Magic of Mayhem. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 233. ISBN 978-1442246652.
  12. Glavin, John, ed. (2017). Dickens Adapted. Routledge. ISBN 978-1351944564. Retrieved July 14, 2017 – via Google Books.
  13. Addison, Heather (2000). "Children's Films in the 1990s". Film Genre 2000: New Critical Essays. SUNY Press. p. 182. ISBN 0791492958.
  14. "Muppets from Space". Billboard. 2 October 1999. p. 32.
  15. Dellamorte, Andre (August 27, 2014). "MUPPETS MOST WANTED Blu-ray Review". Collider. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  16. Zhu, Danielle (September 14, 2015). "The Muppets season 1 study guide: Everything to know about the revival". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  17. Kurp, Josh (July 10, 2017). "The Long-Time Voice Of Kermit The Frog Has Left The Muppets Family". Uproxx. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  18. Bruner, Raisa (July 12, 2017). "Former Kermit the Frog Puppeteer Speaks: 'I Am Devastated'". Time. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  19. Parker, Ryan (July 10, 2017). "Longtime Kermit the Frog Voice Actor Replaced After 27 Years". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
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