Let’s talk about Rizzo the Rat.
When it was announced that Steve Whitmire wouldn’t be continuing with the Muppet troupe, we knew that most of his regular characters would be recast – Kermit, Statler, Beaker, and so on. In the past few years, most of the characters that took up most of his time were already ones originated by other Muppet performers like Jim Henson or Richard Hunt, so we were assured that the legacy would continue. But there was one character that seemed to belong to Steve, and was not only his original creation, but possibly his second-most visible one.
It’s very possible that Rizzo may be retired along with Steve. And while it would be tragic to lose the Muppets’ resident rat, I can’t imagine anyone taking the reins of Steve Whitmire’s creation.
So if we never see Rizzo again, I guess this there’s no better time to point out some issues I’ve had with him for years.
If you asked five people to describe who Rizzo is, you’ll get five different answers. You know that old story about the blind men who encounter an elephant? One feels the trunk and thinks it’s a snake, one feels the body and thinks it’s a wall, one feels the tail, one feels the ear, and so on. Well, those blind men are Muppet fans, and the elephant is a rat.
From what I see, Rizzo doesn’t have much of a personality on his own. Instead, he has a bad habit of mimicking the personality of whoever he’s closest to.
If you look back at his greatest hits individually, it’s a hard pattern to spot. But once you start comparing them, it’s a bit more obvious.
Starting in his Muppet Show days, he’s known only as one in a group of rats. It’s hard to prove that he’s aping the other rats, but the fact that they’re practically indistinguishable (when that’s not the case at all with the other rats later in Muppet history) is indicative of how he developed his personality.
He’s probably most notably paired with Gonzo beginning in Muppet Christmas Carol, and like the Gonzo of the 1990s, he’s weird and maybe a little dumb. He’s not as weird or dumb as Gonzo, but it definitely feels like he’s trying to emulate his friend. In Muppet Christmas Carol, Gonzo’s weirdness is toned way down so he can play the part of Charles Dickens, and Rizzo deftly meets him in this middle-ground, particularly as he jumps from the high fence and gets his tail lit on fire.
In Muppet Treasure Island, he’s still attached to Gonzo’s hip, but Gonzo is in turn attached to Jim Hawkin’s. So rather than focusing on the weirdness, Rizzo finds himself playing third banana to a humorless kid, and practically fading into the background of his own movie.
Even in his Muppets Tonight days when he presumably had more responsibility as the stage manager, Rizzo found himself mirroring whoever else was backstage with him at the time – Clifford, Kermit, Nigel, Gary Cahuenga… you get the idea. Rizzo’s existence was dedicated to helping a chaotic show run smoothly, and he could have easily been replaced by any other Muppet without much change in script. The only difference would be that Rizzo gets to wear a tiny little headset.
In The Muppets TV series, Rizzo finds his way back to Gonzo’s side, but Pepe the King Prawn fills out their trio as the “Up Late with Miss Piggy” writing staff. With Gonzo’s weirdness completely downplayed in the series, Rizzo ends up taking on one of Pepe’s main personality traits, and that unfortunately turns Rizzo into a horndog. If you ever rewatch the season, you’ll notice how Rizzo’s main driving force is either flirting with Yolanda or agreeing with whatever “get laid quick” scheme Pepe has cooked up.
The one production I can’t make this argument for is Muppets Take Manhattan, which is the only time Rizzo ever gets a proper introduction. He’s the waiter at Pete’s Luncheonette, given some solid solo spotlights, and allowed to bring in a mostly diverse group of rat brethren that compliment his personality, and not the other way around. Despite his many memorable moments in later Muppet films, this is the best example of Rizzo in the raw, completely untainted by outside influence.
With his pinnacle in food service, it’s little surprise to learn that his one original and consistent characteristic is eating. Rizzo likes food. I’m sure a bit of his greedy nature comes from this (or vice versa), but almost every one of his appearances involves him eating something or wishing he had something to eat. With this as his most recognizably unique trait, I can’t agree that it’s something he is rather than something he does. Unlike characters like Cookie Monster and Big Mean Carl, whose eating habits are intrinsic in their personalities, Rizzo is meant to be more three-dimensional, and not a mindless devouring monster.
So the question remains: Who is Rizzo? Is he a lonely waiter? Second banana to a hook-nosed weirdo? An opportunist with an appetite for everything? Or is he a mirror to whoever happens to be nearby? Sadly, with no more Steve Whitmire to keep the character alive, we may never know.
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by Ben Nichols
