Yolanda Rat

PERFORMER	various 1984-2011
	Julianne Buescher 1994, 2015-present
	→CASTING HISTORY...
DEBUT	1984

Yolanda Steele

Yolanda Steele, head of the studio in Muppets Studios Presents: You're the Director.

The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora.

"Life's a Happy Song" finale from The Muppets (2011).

Yolanda and Rizzo in The Muppets (2015).

Yolanda in The Muppets (2015).

The Muppet Show Comic Book: Family Reunion

Yolanda in The Muppets Take Manhattan

Yolanda in The Muppets (2015)

Yolanda Rat first appeared in The Muppets Take Manhattan as one of several rats befriended by Rizzo. She appeared sporadically over the years, until taking on a regular role as Kermit the Frog's assistant in ABC's The Muppets.

In The Muppets Take Manhattan, she and her rat compatriots apply for jobs at Pete's Luncheonette. As the only girl in the group, Rizzo frequently makes unwanted passes at her. She gets the job working in the kitchen at Pete's, and helps Kermit with his whispering campaign to sell Manhattan Melodies. Although she and Rizzo don't develop much of an agreeable relationship on screen, they appear to have grown close by the Wedding Finale.

Yolanda re-appeared in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years (in a formal dress), and as a large-scale stage puppet in The Muppet Show On Tour: 2nd Edition.

She was the head of Muppet Studios in the interactive video game You're the Director, where she was named Yolanda Steele, an executive concerned with keeping production under budget. In Muppet Classic Theater, she plays a huckster who assists in selling invisible attire in "The Emperor's New Clothes".

Yolanda can also be seen in the background of A Muppet Family Christmas and The Muppets at Walt Disney World, and pops up The Muppet Show Comic Book: Family Reunion, where she is paired with Rizzo. When she and Rizzo played Hansel and Gretel in the Summer 1986 issue of Muppet Magazine, she said she was happy to be saved from being typecast in The Pied Piper of Hamelin... "we play the rats."

She briefly appeared in the beginning of The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora episode "Movie Night" in 2010, and has a spoken line in the episode "World's Biggest Sandwich". In the Entertainment Weekly "reunions issue" (October 2010), she is incorrectly credited for having been a cast member of The Muppet Show. She also appeared during the "Life's a Happy Song" finale of 2011's The Muppets beside Beauregard and fellow rats.

In The Muppets, she works on the staff of Up Late with Miss Piggy while studying to become an ultrasound technician (she has a 'B' average). She has a close relationship with Rizzo and has been dating a possum who works in advertising.

In the live shows The Muppets Take the Bowl and The Muppets Take the O2, Yolanda appeared in the pre-taped "Veterinarian's Hospital" sketch and received a solo during the "Magic Store" finale.

Casting History

Main Performers

• Julianne Buescher - Muppet Classic Theater (1994) and from The Muppets (2015) to Present

Alternate Performers

• Karen Prell - The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) and The Muppet Show On Tour: 2nd Edition (1985)
• Camille Bonora - Muppets Studios Presents: You're the Director (1988)
• Alice Dinnean - The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora (2010)

Filmography

• The Muppets Take Manhattan
• The Muppet Show On Tour: 2nd Edition
• A Muppet Family Christmas
• Muppets Studios Presents: You're the Director
• The Jim Henson Hour: "Secrets of the Muppets"
• The Muppets at Walt Disney World
• Muppet Classic Theater
• The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora
• Orange
• The Muppets (2011)
• The Muppets (2015)
• The Muppets Take the Bowl
• The Muppets Take the O2
• Muppets Now
• Muppets Haunted Mansion

Print appearances

• The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984 storybook)
• The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984 comic book)
• Muppet Magazine
• Kermit's First Recital (1987)
• Look and Find Muppets (1996)
• The Muppet Show Comic Book: Family Reunion (2010)
• Kermit's Costume Caper (2012)
• Muppets Meet the Classics: The Phantom of the Opera (2017)
• Muppets Meet the Classics: Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm (2018)
  • "Kermit and the Three Golden Nose Hairs"
  • "Bella Thorn, the Sleeping Beauty (Not the Actress)"

Merchandise

• Muppet Trading Cards: "Cleopigtra" (not pictured, but listed with Rizzo as "Toot and Carmen")
• Muppet PVC figures (Miniland)
• Muppet puzzles (Danawares)

Other female rats

Yolanda is the only recurring female rat within the Muppets, but other similar looking rats have appeared over the years filling the role of ancillary characters.

• Rhonda Rat was a recurring "rodent reporter" on The Animal Show during its third season.
• Donna Plagueman was one of the rat tourists featured in Muppet Treasure Island.
• Rizzo's "girl friend" Joy appeared in an installment of The Muppets comic strip from May 26, 1983.
• A female rat in formal wear appears in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years.
• A blonde rat credited in Craig Shemin's script for a January 1, 1998 Today appearance as "NBC Tour Guide Rat" was played by Stephanie D'Abruzzo.
• An unnamed female rat appeared in a prom photo and another appeared in Rizzo's family photo in Muppets from Space.

See also

• Yolanda (disambiguation)