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Rizzo the Rat

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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 Ben Diskin ( Muppet Babies )
Performed by Steve Whitmire (1980?2016)
In-universe information
Species Muppet rat
Gender Male
Nationality American

Rizzo the Rat is a Muppet character from the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show , created and originally performed by Steve Whitmire until 2016.

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 .

Character [ edit ]

Rizzo is a streetwise and sarcastic rat with a New Jersey accent. [2] He is a self-proclaimed acrophobe . [3] 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. [4]

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 claimed that Rizzo came from a family of pizza makers as part of the backstory of the new PizzeRizzo restaurant at Disney's Hollywood Studios . [5] [6]

History [ edit ]

Steve Whitmire was Rizzo's creator and original performer.

Rizzo's name is derived from Dustin Hoffman 's Ratso Rizzo character in Midnight Cowboy . [7] Steve Whitmire created the character, [8] based on rats he had previously made out of bottles. [7]

Rizzo first appeared in episode 48 of The Muppet Show , as one of many rats following Christopher Reeve backstage. [7] 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 . [7] By the time of The Muppet Christmas Carol , Whitmire had been performing Rizzo for around 12 years. [8]

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 [9] and Muppets Tonight . In The Muppet Christmas Carol , he developed a double act with Gonzo , [10] with director Brian Henson and the crew envisioning Rizzo as "pain-in-the-neck sidekick." [8] The characters narrate, break the fourth wall , and Rizzo challenges Gonzo's claims to be Charles Dickens . [11] The Gonzo and Rizzo partnership was continued in Muppet Treasure Island , with Rizzo again offering a humorous critique of the handling of the story, [12] and in Muppets from Space . Along with Kermit and Gonzo, Rizzo gave an audio commentary for the Muppets from Space DVD . [13]

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. [14] Rizzo returned to prominence in the TV series The Muppets , where he was on a writing crew with Gonzo and Pepe the King Prawn . [15]

In October 2016, Whitmire was dismissed by The Muppets Studio . [16] [17] Benjamin Diskin voiced baby Rizzo in the animated series Muppet Babies (2018?2022). No replacement performer for Rizzo has been announced. [18]

Appearances [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

  1. ^ Shemin, Craig (2014). Disney's The Muppets Character Encyclopedia . New York: DK Publishing . p. 151. ISBN   9781465417480 .
  2. ^ Swank, Nathan (November 19, 2011). "Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and our Top Ten favorite Muppet characters" . Flix 66 . Retrieved December 27, 2016 .
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Jurgensen, John (September 10, 2015). "The Muppets Grow Up and Go Back to Prime Time" . The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved December 27, 2016 .
  5. ^ Niles, Robert (October 2016). "Walt Disney World's PizzeRizzo to open on November 18" . Theme Park Insider . Retrieved December 27, 2016 .
  6. ^ Busdeker, Jon (July 18, 2016). "PizzeRizzo pizzeria to open at Disney's Hollywood Studios" . WESH . Retrieved December 27, 2016 .
  7. ^ a b c d Conradt, Stacy (February 10, 2009). "Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters" . CNN . Retrieved December 27, 2016 .
  8. ^ a b c Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (December 21, 2015). "How we made: The Muppet Christmas Carol" . The Guardian . Retrieved December 27, 2016 .
  9. ^ " '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 .
  10. ^ 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 .
  11. ^ Glavin, John, ed. (2017). Dickens Adapted . Routledge. ISBN   978-1351944564 . Retrieved July 14, 2017 – via Google Books .
  12. ^ Addison, Heather (2000). "Children's Films in the 1990s". Film Genre 2000: New Critical Essays . SUNY Press. p. 182. ISBN   0791492958 .
  13. ^ "Muppets from Space". Billboard . 2 October 1999. p. 32.
  14. ^ Dellamorte, Andre (August 27, 2014). "MUPPETS MOST WANTED Blu-ray Review" . Collider . Retrieved July 14, 2017 .
  15. ^ Zhu, Danielle (September 14, 2015). "The Muppets season 1 study guide: Everything to know about the revival" . Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved December 27, 2016 .
  16. ^ Dab, Sopan; Haigney, Sophie (July 17, 2017). "Kermit the Frog Performer and Disney Spar Over an Ugly 'Muppet' Firing" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on July 17, 2017 . Retrieved July 17, 2017 .
  17. ^ Bruner, Raisa (July 12, 2017). "Former Kermit the Frog Puppeteer Speaks: 'I Am Devastated' " . Time . Retrieved July 12, 2017 .
  18. ^ Petski, Denise (25 July 2019). " 'Muppet Babies' Lands Early Third Season Renewal At Disney Junior" . Deadline . Retrieved 11 December 2023 .
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Voice Of Rizzo the Rat" . Behind The Voice Actors . Retrieved 2014-04-10 .

External links [ edit ]

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