Rizzo the Rat "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. After the series, he appeared in "The Great Muppet Caper" as a bellboy in a
Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem which Floyd described as Zoot "skip[ping] the groove again"—but he can be sharper than he seems. When Floyd declared the band to be "anklin'" during its brief strike, only Zoot seemed dubious, noting "The frog's been good to us." Zoot's claim to fame was playing the final off-key note to the end theme of the show; he then looks into his saxophone with a bewildered expression, checks his music, gives a satisfied nod, looks around at the other musicians and gives the same nod. The note played is the lowest note on the baritone saxophone, while most of Zoot's other