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Count von Count (b. October 9, 1,830,653 BC? ), 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 a compulsive 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 have suggested that including an obsessive-compulsive Muppet on the children's program was Jim Henson's way of teaching young people about the nature of those with mental disorders, and how they should be accepted socially and treated the same as the general population. This is a minority viewpoint; however, it does jibe with the overall educational message of Sesame Street.
Interestingly, 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. 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, following a counting session, the Count would laugh maniacally, "AH! AH! AH!" as thunder roared overhead and lightning flashed. This practice, however, has been discontinued, as it scared some young children.
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 eye-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, plus he doesn't suck blood, doesn't sleep in a coffin, usually sleeps at night, and never changes into a bat. In some ways, he's just like a regular human.
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 Tattiana. 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.
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...", to thunderous acclamation.
History of the character on Sesame Street
The Count debuted on Sesame Street in Season 4 (1972-73), performed by Jerry Nelson.
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.
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).
Trivia
- Once, he hypnotized Bert and Ernie.
- 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.
- There is a Unix utility called countmail, written by NetBSD founder Charles M. Hannum, whose purpose is to count the user's new e-Mail messages. But instead of simply displaying the number it will output e.g. FOURTEEN! FOURTEEN MAIL MESSAGES! HAHAHAHAHA!
- In the episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1" of Family Guy, Peter wondered if the Count ever sucked blood:
- Peter: Have they ever shown him doing somebody in and then feeding on him?
- Brian: You're asking me if they've ever done an episode where the Count kills someone, and then drinks their blood for sustinance?
- Peter: Yeah.
- Brian: No, I don't think they've done that one yet.
- 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'd even see him pimping. 'You are late with my money, bitch! How many times must I smack you? One! *smack* Two! *smack* 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. He is subsequently turned into Dracula's slave.
- On Animaniacs, The Warner Siblings go to Transylvania and meet Count Dracula, Yakko askes him "Don't you teach math on Sesame Street?"