I miss Rizzo!

[zoebell]

actually fozzie and piggy rarely had scenes together on the show. in the specials and movies, yes, but they probably had more time to do that and it was easier

 

[dwayne1115]

yes but chef and kermit would be on the muppet show talking to each other all the time.

 

[MartyMuppets]

But that doesn't explain Fozzie/Piggy's ability to always be in scenes together throughout the whole of Muppet history.

Well in part of TMS season one at least Piggy was sometimes voiced by Richard Hunt so there were no problems with her appearing with Frank Oz's Fozzie to begin with. Afterwards they must have spent lots of time carefully planning and choreographing occasional appearances of characters voiced by the same Muppeteer to make it flow believably.

 

[Drtooth]

That makes sense. It very similar as to why we saw less Rowlf on TMS. Jim was too busy with Kermit and it was hard to include the characters together.

For some reason, Steve seemed to be closer with Rizzo than Kermit for the longest time because, well... Rizzo is his character. if you have the MFS DVD, watch the commentary track, and Kermit leaves the theater before the opening number and gets replaced with Rizzo up until the end credits where Kermit randomly comes back. That's all the proof I need. Steve really seemed to be busy with Kermit primarily, possibly with Link and Beaker (even though the two share a sequence in the Barber Shop Quartet, but that's recorded anyway).

But that doesn't explain Fozzie/Piggy's ability to always be in scenes together throughout the whole of Muppet history.

Actually, MFS answers the question again. While there is dialogue looping, in scenes with all Frank Oz characters, they barely have any lines and the chemistry seems a little off. Even if someone else played Rizzo, the dialogue would have been looped and he wouldn't have all that much to say, or to interact with. There's similar problems in LTS, as Rizzo comes with Kermit, Pepe, Gonzo, and Fozzie to the North Pole. Rizzo seems to talk a lot less, then Kermit seems to have less dialogue, then Rizzo barely says anything again.

Still... I wouldn't worry much about 1 project. Other than Rizzo's very short Munchkin performance in MWOZ, he was prominently featured in all the other projects.

Maybe Steve is just so relaxed as Kermit now, he can use him as his primary character now.

 

[zoebell]

that much seems clear. i think steve finally felt good with kermit around 2002, with VMX

now it's second nature

 

[Pinkflower7783]

I know Jim Henson said at one time he could only do so many takes of dr teeth before his throat would start to hurt and then he couldn't really do Kermit because dr teeth has that rough voice so that could be true for Steve as well when it comes to rizzo.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

But Rizzo's voice I don't think is as rough as Dr. Teeth's. I never heard Steve as Kermit when he first started as sadly I sort of forgot about the muppets for a long time but I give Steve credit for being able to take on not only huge shoes to fill after Jim but I can't imagine the pressure he must've felt always wondering am I doing Kermit as good as Jim? I think Steve has finally found his own Kermit and I think he's doing great, I don't like comparing him up Jim because he's not Jim and no one will ever be Jim. Steve is Steve and I think Kermit is in good hands. Literally. Lol!

 

[zoebell]

i agree. i also can't help but notice he finally seemed to develop more of his own kermit when frank oz retired

i wonder if that had something to do with his ability to start developing a rapport with someone new in the characters of fozzie and piggy. because he never really gelled rapport-wise with frank (imo), and building those interactions is probably helpful to coming into his own, character-wise

 

[Borples]

It is kind of ironic... Pepe seems to have been all over the promotion for the movie despite only having one big scene, and yet Rizzo seems to be prominient in the bonus features while Pepe is hardly included.

You know what strikes me as odd? The ad for the movie that appears on Facebook's sidebar is a picture of Beaker, and the caption is something like, "Pepe, Rizzo, Beaker, all your favorites are back in The Muppets on blu-ray blah blah" ...Well, one out of three ain't bad, I guess? I'm not complaining about the movie, it just seems weird that they would blatantly advertise two characters who barely appear in it.

I actually do have some inside info as to why possibly there's been a lot less of Rizzo as of late, BUT, I'm sworn to secrecy, so I really can't tell.

Heyyyyyy, no fair teasing.

Perhaps part of the reason is Steve's getting quite hoarse lately and Rizzo's high voice is becoming a strain on Steve's throat.

I thought of that too. But then, he seems to be able to do Beaker just fine? I swear, every time I watch Beaker's viral vids, especially Habanera, I wonder if that's the exact point that Steve's voice started giving him trouble.


And, in conclusion, I agree with this thread title. I miss Rizzo! On the few occasions I have seen him in anything new recently, I've pretty much squealed and tried to hug him through the monitor.

 

[minor muppetz]

I remember when Steve Whitmire was interviewed by Tough Pigs in 2008, he said that he can't do the Mew voice anymore. And I thought Rizzo and Bean had the same voice as Mew (though after watching The Christmas Toy for the first time in six years, I can hear a difference).

Speaking of Link and Beaker both being in the same number, I noticed that lately Kermit and Beaker have been appearing together quite a bit. Such as when the gang recruits Bunsen and Beaker to come back (though I'm sure Steve was performing both characters seperately, via greenscreen), when Scooter suggests Bunsen set Beaker on fire (I feel that line should have gone to another character, like Link), in the UL Labs commercials, and in one of the recent Kermit's Party commercials.