Count von Count

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Count von Count
First appearance November 27, 1972
Gender male
Voiced by Jerry Nelson
Also known as The Count
"The Count" redirects here; for the nobility title, see Count. For other uses, see Count (disambiguation).

Count von Count, often known as The Count, is one of the Muppet characters on Sesame Street, performed by Jerry Nelson. The Count is a vampire modeled after Béla Lugosi's interpretation of Count Dracula.

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[edit] Description

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The Count's main purpose is educating children on simple mathematical concepts, most notably counting. The Count has a love of counting (arithmomania); he will count anything and everything, regardless of size, amount, or how much annoyance he is causing the other Muppets or human cast.

Some traditional vampire myths depict vampires as having a similar fixation 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!"

In the early 1970s, following a counting session, the Count would laugh maniacally, "AH AH AH AH AH!" as thunder roared overhead and lightning flashed, and as the total of the number appeared on screen. He wouldn't let anything get in the way of his counting, and had hypnotic powers, being able to temporarily stun people with a wave of his hands. This practice, however, was discontinued in the mid-1970s because there was concern that children watching the show would become 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 on, with some exceptions in the early 2000s.

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 (better known as fangs, although Lugosi himself did not bear fangs in the 1931 film), but it would appear that he is different from other vampires, besides sporting a goatee and monocle. For example, most vampires wither in direct sunlight; the Count does not and in fact enjoys being outside. Additionally, the Count does not suck blood, sleep in a coffin, or change into a bat. He also sleeps at night. In many ways, he is more like a regular human than a vampire. However, the Count still has one vampiric trait: he has no reflection in mirrors.

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, Fatatita, as well. Sometimes he counts her. He also drives a special car designed in the features of a bat, named the Countmobile, intended as a pun to the Batmobile. He is also the one who repairs the Countmobile when it breaks down, implying that he is a good mechanic.

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.

[edit] History of the character on Sesame Street

The Count debuted on Sesame Street in Season 4 (1972–73), and 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. Notably, the Count appeared on-screen during the closing credits of Follow That Bird where he proceeded to read and count the credits.

In Season 33, the Count got a daily segment on Sesame Street, simply called The Number of the Day.

[edit] Internationally

[edit] Appearances in other media

  • 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..."[citation needed]
  • In a Dancing with the Stars results show that aired on October 2, 2007, a fake backstage sequence with Jimmy Kimmel claimed that votes for the show are tabulated by The Count, who was depicted as being thrown into a panic by the discovery that "Mel B" and "Scary Spice" are in fact the same person.
  • In Act 2 of the Broadway musical Avenue Q two screens show the audience six cartoon nightstands while at the same time a voice sounding like The Count comes over the speaker system and counts down from six nightstands to 'one night stand.'

[edit] References in popular culture

Because of his friendly personality, iconic laugh, and Dracula like appearance, The Count is one of the most recognizable characters from Sesame Street, and has been referenced numerous times in popular culture. For example:

  • In his HBO stand up special "Killing Them Softly", comedian Dave Chappelle does a routine in which he says several shows for kids send them subliminal messages. He says Sesame Street teaches kids how to judge people (he uses Oscar for his example), describes "Snuffie" as addicted to drugs, and as a junkie, and explains that The Count is a pimp because of his style of dress and obsession with numbers. Chappelle then goes on to impersonate The Count, complain to one of his hookers that she is late paying him, proceeds to pretend to smack her twice, and count the smacks.
  • In an episode of Family Guy, Brian and Peter are shown watching an episode of Sesame Street featuring The Count counting bats. Peter turns to Brian and asks if The Count is a vampire, and whether The Count has ever killed anyone on the show. Brian then asks Peter to confirm that he is asking "if they have done a Sesame Street where they showed The Count killing someone, and then draining their blood for sustenance" which Peter does. Brian then instantly replies "no".
  • In the film The Descent, early in the film the main characters encounter a swarm of bats as they enter a cave. In response, Holly (Nora Jane Noone) impersonates the Count, chanting, "One bat. Two bats. Fifty bats. Ah ah ah ah ah."
  • A video of the Count singing "The Song of the Count" was reedited by American comedian Neil Cicierega, censoring every time the Count says "count" or "counting" (except for the first and last time), making it appear as if the count is cursing. The video has become a huge hit on YouTube.
  • During an episode of Beavis and Butt-head, where they watch a music video, Beavis comments that the lead singer resembles The Count, and Butt-head proceeds to impersonate The Count; "One! Two! Three! Four buttknockers!"
  • Greg the Bunny featured a character on "Sweetknuckle Junction" called "Count Blah", an obvious spoof of the Count Von Count who, he said, was actually from Brooklyn.
  • On The Simpsons episode The Girl Who Slept Too Little, when the people are transplanting the Cemetery near the Simpsons' house, Maggie is watching Count von Count on Sesame Street. Marge admits that she doesn't like watching the Count, and says "Go back to your own country!" to the TV.
  • On the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Buffy vs. Dracula, Willow and Xander bump into Buffy and Dracula in a graveyard, when the Count tells them to 'Leave us' Xander replies 'No we will not 'leave you' and where did you get that accent, Sesame Street? Von, Two, Three! Three victims, AH AH AH AH AH!!'
  • The St. Paul Saints, an independent minor-league baseball team in St. Paul, Minnesota known for unique and sometimes over-the-top promotions, announced that it would give away 2,500 bobblehead dolls dressed as the Count at its May 23, 2009 game. However, instead of the Count's regular head, this doll's head featured Al Franken on one side and Norm Coleman on the other, and was called "Count von Re-Count"—referring to the extraordinarily prolonged recount and legal battle surrounding the 2008 U.S. Senate election between the two men. The team made further jabs at the election during the game.[1]

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Associated Press (2009-05-23). "Saints' gimmick jabs at Senate race". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4201396. Retrieved on 2009-05-23. 

[edit] External links

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