Rizzo the Rat

So good, so good.

Yeah, I think, and I think this was, I mean, obviously Rizzo and Gonzo were kind of the narrators of Christmas Carol too.

So they, to work them in.

Just Gonzo

actually.

Oh, yeah, he played Charles Dickens.

And then Rizzo was just with him.

He's just the commentator, yeah.

Young innkeeper's boy, Jim Hawkins, comes into possession of a treasure map after a dying pirate's warning and sets sail aboard the Hispaniola with a wealthy benefactor, a blustery captain, and a crew secretly stacked with mutineers led by the ship's charismatic, one-legged cook, Long John Silver.

Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Rizzo, and the rest of the Muppet gang fill out the cast alongside human actors in this musical, swashbuckling adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel.

That's it.

Okay.

yeah

and i feel bad about and it's kind of how i feel about these movies is that i just never i never got into them enough to appreciate them for the silliness that they are because there is some silly to this when jim is singing about wanting to leave it's cringe to me not to a lot of other people But it's cringe to me.

And I think the brilliance in the entire thing is they have Rizzo following along.

And it's not even Gonzo.

Uh, and then that guy dies.

And so Jim and his sidekicks, Gonzo and Rizzo end up in, um, they end up having the treasure map themselves.

Uh, and so they go and find a guy who can give them a ship so that they can go search for the treasure.

Uh, And then he meets Long John Silver, who is the ship's cook, but it turns out that he's been planning mutiny so that he can himself get the treasure.

She said a lot of colors don't look good on him, which actually kind of makes sense as to why we see him in a lot of like reds and oranges.

And I think that those go well with sort of like the dark blue of his skin color.

And then specifically in this article about The Muppet Show, she said it was hard to dress him too because his longtime puppeteer, Dave Goels... had final say in gonzo's wardrobe so i wonder if that was the same for the films or if um or if she had a little more power when it was like period clothing because um i feel like if the puppeteer is like nixing all of your ideas that would be very difficult um but I love the um the mixture of patterns I love a good pattern mix uh and then we also have Rizzo I have a front on shot of Rizzo too but I'm always obsessed with Rizzo's clothes um I love the teeny teeny tiny little vests and little shirts uh and he has this tiny little tie on apron too it's just like all so sweet um But also, what Polly is really good at in these Muppets period films is, like, the realism of it.

Because, like, the universes of both the movies is, like, these humans have grown up in a world where there are also these Muppets who are also just regular people in the world.

So you have the dichotomy of the order Muppets and the chaos Muppets.

And so I lean more towards the order Muppets that can crack a joke, you know, so like Rolf and Rizzo, they're, they're more orderly, but they're very, very funny.

But I love the fact that Miss Piggy is pure chaos, but, But it's pointed, you know, whereas like Animal they unleash or you have like Lou with the fish, you know, or the guy who blows everything up, Crazy Harry, I think his name is.

I think it is Crazy Harry.

I think we gotta do...

I mean, Rizzo and Gonzo play a pretty prominent role in this.

Rizzo is...

Oh, boy.

Who is Rizzo in this? Maybe he's just playing Rizzo?

Hold on.

Oh, uh...

We'll just put Rizzo and Gonzo for now, because we're gonna forget who they are anyway.

Of course.

Do you remember Rizzo the Rat and the narrators?

Have I watched Muppet Christmas Carol?

[laughs] Okay, I know you have 'cause we talk about it every year, but...

...

there you go.

Chri- Muppet Christmas Carol, there's a part, Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat are the narrators, and Gonzo's trying to get Rizzo to jump off this top high gate, and he's gonna catch him, and it's gonna be fine.

They have to get over to the house to be able to see what's going on, and he's up there freaking out.

It's still gonna have, like, a cute little mascot, and it's still gonna be a pizza joint.

Maybe they'll have some nods in there to, uh, Rizzo the Rat, but I'm e- I'm excited about that probably as much as I am about the Door Coaster.

[laughs] I'm excited to see the-

Yeah.

I love Rizzo so much.

I love Rizzo the rat, dude.

Rizzo's the best.

Um, placing them as like the figures on the front of the boat was the perfect spot for Statler and Waldorf.

Like, l- Mel Brooks-

Oh, yeah

... and Rizzo the Rat are the two best in the history of Hollywood at pulling off fourth wall breaks.

I stand by that.

Yeah.

Which, by the way, one of my favorite bits from Muppets Most Wanted is that like Rizzo is there and like basically complains about how like certain other characters didn't didn't really get represented in the last movie.

And he's

like,

The moment that you say it is like, oh, right.

Like, yeah, Walter is just straight up like the role that.

in previous films would have been filled by either like Robin, if they needed someone sincere Rizzo, if they needed a wisecracker.

Yeah.

He's Phileas.

Rizzo is Jean.

Uh, David Tennant is the human, and he's Fix, the Scottish inspect- or Scottish, Scottish, like, detective/inspector.

Yeah.

Yeah, let's do it.

We're doing-

But it's all Gonzo and Rizzo and nobody else.

[laughs]