Count von Count
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- "The Count" redirects here; for the nobility title, see Count. For other uses, see Count (disambiguation).
Count von Count (born October 9), often known as simply The Count, is one of the Muppet characters on Sesame Street, performed by Jerry Nelson. The Count is a vampire obviously modeled after Béla Lugosi's interpretation of Count Dracula.
The Count's main purpose is educating children on simple mathematics concepts, most notably counting. The Count has an obsessive love of counting (arithmomania); he will count anything and everything, regardless of size, amount, or how much annoyance he is causing the other Muppets.
Some traditional vampire myths depict vampires as having a similar obsession with counting small objects, providing a means of distracting them by tossing a handful of seeds or salt on the ground. This is seen as a protection from the vampire, similar to the use of garlic. The Count's own arithmomania may simply be a coincidence, however, inspired by the pun on his title of nobility. According to his theme song, The Song of the Count: "When I'm alone, I count myself. One count!"
Originally in the early 1960s, following a counting session, the Count would laugh maniacally, "AH HA HA HA HA!" as thunder roared overhead and lightning flashed, and as the total of the number appeared on screen. He also possessed hypnotic powers and could stun people, and he wouldn't let anything get in his way of counting. This practice, however, was discontinued in the mid-1970s because children watching the show might be frightened by it. From the mid-70s to the present, the Count became friendlier, did not have hypnotic powers, and interacted more with the characters (both live actors and Muppets), and appeared in at least one Muppet-Kid moment. His laugh was also changed from maniacal laughter to a more triumphant, stereotypical Dracula-style laugh, but the thunder and lightning stayed until the early 2000s, and from then on was only used for special sequences.
When the Count sings, the background music resembles Roma music, no matter what the song.
The Count bears a noticeable resemblance to Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula, including a similar accent and oversized, pointed canine teeth, but it would appear that he is different from other vampires. For example, most vampires wither in direct sunlight; the Count does not and in fact enjoys being outside. Additionally, the Count doesn't suck blood, sleep in a coffin, or change into a bat. He also sleeps at night. In many ways, he's more like a regular human than a vampire.
The Count lives in an old, cobweb-infested castle which he shares with many bats. Sometimes he counts them. Some of the pet bats are named, including Grisha, Misha, Sasha, and Tatiana. He has a cat, Fatatatita, as well.
The Count's former girlfriend, Countess von Backwards, was known for counting backwards. More recently he has been seen with a new girlfriend, Countess Dahling Von Dahling. His brother and mother have made appearances on the show. His grandparents also made an appearance. When Grandma Count laughs, it rains. When Grandpa Count laughs, it snows.
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[edit] History of the character on Sesame Street
The Count debuted on Sesame Street in Season 4 (1972–73), was conceived by Norman Stiles, who wrote the first script. The Count was performed by Jerry Nelson, who brought the character to life.
The Count was originally made out of the Large Lavender Live Hand Anything Muppet pattern.
He made an appearance in The Muppets Take Manhattan, then in the Sesame Street movies Follow That Bird and Elmo in Grouchland.
In Season 33, the Count got a daily segment on Sesame Street, simply called The Number of the Day.
[edit] Internationally
- In the Mexican show Plaza Sésamo, the Count's name is El Conde Contar.
- In the Spanish Show, Barrio Sésamo, The Count's name is Conde Draco.
- In the Hebrew show רחוב סומסום, the Count's name is מר סופר.
- In the Dutch show Sesamstraat, the Count's name is Graaf Tel.
- In the German show Sesamstraße, the Count's name is Graf Zahl.
- In the Portuguese show Rua Sésamo, the Count's name is Conde de Contar.
- In the Russian show Ulitsa Sezam, the Count's name is Znak (Знак).
- In the Turkish show Susam Sokağı, the Count's name is Sayıların Kontu (literally translates as 'The Count of Numbers')
[edit] Trivia
- In one episode, his sheep went on strike because he would not stop counting them. In another, he stays for the night at Bert and Ernie's house, but counts all night, preventing Ernie from falling asleep.
- The Count is one of the few Sesame Street muppets that owns a car. The Count's New York license plate number (as seen in Follow That Bird) is 12345678910.
- The Count appeared on a video package aired on the first episode of The Late Show with David Letterman that was shown after Letterman's emergency quintuple bypass operation. He appeared as a surgeon in an operating theatre, counting "One bypass... AH AH AH! Two bypass...".
- In the episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1" of Family Guy, Peter wondered about the Count's status as a vampire:
- Peter: You know, the Count has fangs like a vampire. Have they ever shown him doing somebody in and then feeding on him?
- Brian: You—you're asking if they've ever done an episode of Sesame Street in which the Count kills somebody and then drinks their blood for sustenance?
- Peter: Yeah.
- Brian: No, they've never done that.
- On the short-lived FOX sitcom Greg the Bunny, Count Blah claimed adamantly that the Count stole his act.
- The Count is the subject of one of Dave Chappelle's comedy routines. Chapelle cites his cape as one of the primary reasons he feels that the Count is a pimp. "You could just see him pimping. 'Bitch, where is my money? You've been late four times, I've been counting! How many times must I smack you before you act right? *smack* One *smack* two! Two smacks! AH! AH! AH!'"
- In an episode of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer where they meet the original Count Dracula, the character Xander Harris believes the vampire is simply a goth poseur, and accuses him of having a "Count von Count accent", and actually does a counting impression of the Sesame Street character ("One, two, three—three victims! Ah ha ha!"). He is subsequently turned into Dracula's slave.
- On Animaniacs, The Warner Siblings go to Transylvania and meet Count Dracula, Yakko asks him "Don't you teach math on Sesame Street?"
- In The Simpsons episode "The Girl Who Slept Too Little," Maggie watches Sesame Street, and the Count is featured counting coconuts. Marge remarks about how spooky he is and says "Go back to your own country!" to the TV.
- In the video game Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, one of the phrases Gex says as DracuGex is... "For some reason I feel like... counting! Haha! One, two, three!"
- In the Will & Grace episode "All About Christmas Eve", when Will wants to meet Grace at The Nutcracker showing at the theater, Jack and Karen will only forgive Will for running out on them a second time if he sings The Twelve Days of Christmas like The Count. Will then sings, "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... that's one, one day! Ha ha ha!" When Will shows up and finds out she is going with Leo instead, he then says, "You've already called me back two, two times! Ha ha ha! That's gonna be stuck in my head until New Years!"
- In the Onion's American Voices October 31, 2006 topic, "Science Disproves Vampires," it stated: "Florida physics professor Costas Efthimiou has devised a simple mathematical proof stating that vampires cannot exist. What do you think?" The final response was: "This news will likely hit The Count the hardest. Destroyed by the very numbers he loves.”
- In an episode of Robot Chicken the Count is seen giving out Bird Flu vaccines to Ernie, Bert and the Cookie Monster
- In the film The Descent, Holly does an impression of the Count when a swarm of bats erupt from a cave - "thirty, forty, fifty bats! Ah ha ha!".
