Rizzo the Rat

Rizzo the Rat
The Muppets character
Rizzo in A Tail of Two Piggies episode of The Muppets
First appearance	The Muppet Show (episode 418)
Created by	Jim Henson
Performed by	Steve Whitmire
Information
Species	Muppet rat
Gender	Male
Nationality	American

Rizzo the Rat is a Muppet character, created and performed by Steve Whitmire. 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 is a streetwise and sarcastic rat with a New Jersey accent. He is a self-proclaimed acrophobe. 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.

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. This addition to his story was in light of a new pizzeria at Disney's Hollywood Studios dedicated to Rizzo, called PizzeRizzo.

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

Rizzo first appeared in episode 418 of The Muppet Show, as one of many rats following Christopher Reeve backstage. 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. By the time of The Muppets Christmas Carol, Whitmire had been performing Rizzo for around 12 years.