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Rizzo the Rat is a Muppet, performed by Steve Whitmire. He first appeared in The Great Muppet Caper as a bellboy in a fleabag London hotel (although he may have been the unnamed leader of the rats in the first episode of the fifth season of The Muppet Show). He has appeared in most later Muppet projects, including The Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppets Tonight. In The Muppet Christmas Carol, he developed a popular double act with Gonzo, which was continued in Muppet Treasure Island and in Muppets from Space.
Rizzo is a streetwise rat with a New Jersey accent and a self-proclaimed acrophobia ("There are only two things . . . I hate: heights and jumping from them"). His name may have been inspired by the similar (human) character of Ratso Rizzo in the film Midnight Cowboy.