Count von Count

Character on Sesame Street

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Fictional character

Count von Count

Sesame Street character
First appearance| Episode 0406 (November 13, 1972)
Created by| Norman Stiles
Performed by|

* Jerry Nelson (1972–2012)
* Matt Vogel (2013–present)

In-universe information
Alias| The Count
Species| Muppet Vampire
Gender| Male
Nationality| Romanian

Count von Count (known simply as the Count) is a Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show Sesame Street. He is meant to parody Bela Lugosi's vampiric character, Count Dracula. His first appearance on the show was on the 4th season in 1972, where he counts blocks in a sketch with Bert and Ernie.

## Description and personality

[edit]

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The Count's main role is to teach counting skills to children.[1] His catchphrase is, "Greetings! I am The. Count. They call me the Count because I love to count things". The Count loves counting so much that he will often count anything and everything regardless of size or amount, to the point of annoying other characters. The Count can occasionally lose his temper if interrupted while counting, or feel sad when there is nothing around for him to count. But apart from these, he is typically portrayed as friendly and cheerful. Once he reaches the total number of items he is counting, thunderstorms roll (even indoors or on sunny days) while he laughs his iconic "Ah-Ah-Ah!" staccato laugh.

The Count lives in an old cobweb-infested castle which he shares with many bats, a wolf named Yuba, and a cat named Fatatita. As a running gag, his castle has a squeaky door, which visitors always point out, only for the Count to instantly change the subject to his counting addiction. The Count drives a special car, the Countmobile, which is designed to look like a bat (cf. Batmobile).

The Count has been shown with a number of girlfriends, who tend to be vampire Countesses. These include Countess von Backwards (debuted in Sesame Street's 28th season), who counts backwards, her total is indicated by a wolf howl; Countess Dahling von Dahling (debuted in the 12th season); and one simply called "the Countess" (first appearing in season 8). The von Count family includes an unnamed brother and mother as well as an Uncle Uno and grandparents. When the grandmother counts, it rains, and when the grandfather counts, it snows.

The Count has a personal cloud hovering over him, which is possibly the source of his thunder and lightning. Some residents have been disturbed by it in a few episodes. For example, in episode 0974, he was counting at midnight, and as his punishment, the Amazing Mumford used magic to detach his cloud, therefore taking his thunder and lightning away until he understood. This episode was inspired by the 1978 Sesame Street bedtime storybook titled "Who Stole the Count's Thunder?".

According to BBC News, during an interview with the More or Less team's Tim Harford, the Count said his favorite number is 34,969. The Count was quoted as saying, "It's a square-root thing.": 34,969 is a perfect square, being 1872.[2]

The Count's signature song is "The Song of the Count". The song was written by Jeff Moss as a traditional Hungarian Csárdás.

## Character history

[edit]

The Count debuted on Sesame Street in Episode 0406, the premiere of Season 4 (1972–73). He was conceived by Norman Stiles,[3] who wrote the first script. In the Count's very first scene, Ernie told Bert to watch his pyramid of blocks and make sure nothing happened to it while he got his camera to take a picture of the pyramid. The Count then walked by, counted the blocks, and in the process, took Ernie's pyramid apart before Bert could stop him. He then counted the blocks again, moving them back into place. Bert yelled at the Count for moving Ernie's blocks, so the Count counted the blocks again, taking the pyramid apart.[4] The Count was performed by Jerry Nelson, who brought the character to life. He is made out of the Large Lavender Live Hand Anything Muppet pattern.

Before a counting session, he originally greeted the viewers (and the characters) by saying, "Greetings. I am the Count. They call me the Count because I LOVE to count... things." Nelson voiced the Count until his death on August 23, 2012. At that time, Matt Vogel had taken over performing the puppetry of the Count. Upon Nelson's death, Vogel started performing both the Count's voice and puppetry. His first performance of the Count was in a YouTube video called "Counting the Yous in YouTube", a song about the celebration of Sesame Street's YouTube channel reaching 1 billion views.

Despite the fact that the Count is now friendly and non-threatening, in his earliest appearances from 1972 to 1975, he showed a much more villainous nature. To begin a counting session, the Count would enter the scene holding his cape over his face in an exaggerated Lugosi-style pose before reciting his greeting, and he was often accompanied by creepy organ music. He would not even let anything interrupt him while counting, and to prevent this, he shouted "SILENCE!" and used hypnotic powers to temporarily stun people with a wave of his hands (although he sometimes did this without shouting anything, and even did it for no reason, occasionally). He only did this twice. In his first appearance, he hypnotized Bert before counting Ernie's pyramid blocks, while on season 5, during a skit with Grover, the waiter, he hypnotized Grover to serve him more hot dogs to count instead of eating, leaving Grover breathless.[5] And after counting, he would laugh maniacally, "MWAH HA HA HA HA HAAAA!!!", while thunder and lightning flashed in moody colors, and then he would exit the scene, once again, holding his cape over his face. This aspect of the Count's personality, however, was abruptly ended in 1975 out of concern that it might frighten younger viewers, and this practice was changed, as he became friendlier, did not have hypnotic powers, did not enter or exit the scene holding his cape over his face, and interacted more pleasantly with the characters (both live actors and Muppets).[citation needed] Also, the creepy organ music was removed, the lightning flashes were changed from moodily colored to normally colored, and his laugh was changed from a maniacal laugh to a more throaty, triumphant Lugosi-style laugh, "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!"

Belvedere Castle, in New York's Central Park, was used for exterior establishing shots of the Count's castle on the show.

The Count made an appearance in the film The Muppets Take Manhattan at Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy's wedding, then in the Sesame Street movies Follow That Bird (1985) as a supporting character and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999) as a minor character. The Count appeared onscreen during the closing credits of Follow That Bird, where he proceeded to read and count the credits. He also said, "Hi, Mom." when a credit appears for Joan Ganz Cooney, creator of Sesame Street.[6]

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

The Count was originally portrayed by Jerry Nelson. However, Nelson's health began to deteriorate in 2004, so he retired from performing all his characters except for the Count and his other Sesame Street characters. Due to his increasingly failing health, Nelson could no longer puppeteer the character of the Count, so he handed over puppeteering duties to Matt Vogel, though Nelson still continued to voice the Count. After Nelson's death in 2012, Vogel took over voicing and puppeteering the Count full time the following year.

## In other languages

[edit]

* In the Dutch version of the series, Sesamstraat, the Count's name is Graaf Tel (literally, "Count (nobleman) Count (the process of counting)").
* In the French series 1, Rue Sésame, his name is Comte von Compte.
* In the German series Sesamstraße, his name is Graf Zahl (literally, "Count Number").
* In the Hebrew series Rechov Sumsum, his name is 'מר סופר', phonetically pronounced 'Mar Sofer', which literally means "Mr. Counter".
* In the Mexican series Plaza Sésamo, his name is Conde Contar (literally, "Count of Counting").
* In the Polish series Ulica Sezamkowa, his name is Liczyhrabia (literally, "Countcount").
* In the Portuguese series Rua Sésamo, his name is Conde de Contar (translated as "Count of Counting").
* In the Russian series Улица Сезам, his name is Graf Znak (Граф Знак) (translated as "symbol" or "sign" as the mathematical categories).
* In the Spanish series, Barrio Sésamo, his name is Conde Draco.
* In the Turkish series Susam Sokağı, his name is Sayıların Kontu (literally, "the Count of Numbers")

## Appearances outside Sesame Street

[edit]

* The Count was interviewed in character on the BBC Radio 4 economics programme More or Less on December 11, 2009, where he mentioned his favorite number, 34,969.
* He appeared on the Halloween edition of SportsCenter to count down the top ten trick plays of the 2010 college football season.
* He was a guest on Countdown with Keith Olbermann for the first-anniversary episode.
* In the Mormon Tabernacle Choir 2014 PBS Christmas Concert Keep Christmas with You, Tabernacle organist Richard Elliott along with the Count, performed "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on the 7,667-pipe Conference center organ.
* He was a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers on March 27, 2015, to help out in the feature "This Week in Numbers".
* He was interviewed in character by Wired in a video released on February 22, 2017. In the interview, he cannot decide on a single favorite number, and says he will be 6,523,728 years old "next October."[7]
* He has an ongoing role in supporting the United States Census in public service announcements.[8]

## In popular culture

[edit]

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.[9]

Australian rugby league football international Anthony Minichiello has been nicknamed "the Count" due to his striking resemblance to the character.[10]

During the 2020 United States presidential election, which required a ballot-counting period of four days before Joe Biden was declared the winner, the Count was featured in many internet memes and social media posts, such as playful wishes that he could be called in to assist the tabulation and the insistence that President Donald Trump's demand to "Stop the Count" was hopeless against the Sesame Street character.[11]

## See also

[edit]

* Arithmomania and Vampire for other vampires with a compulsion to count

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Coffey, Jerry (October 6, 1972). "New Faces Coming to 'Sesame Street'". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 6-B.
2. ^ "Why was 34,969 Count von Count's magic number?". BBC America. August 30, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
3. ^ "WMC to conferr 300 degrees on Saturday". The Evening Sun (Westminster, Maryland). May 23, 1985. p. 59.
4. ^ Luparello, Ben (October 29, 1972). "Few New Sights on Sesame Street". New York Daily News. p. 20.
5. ^ Sesame Street Episode 0406
6. ^ "Follow That Bird (1985) - Trivia". IMDb.
7. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "The Cast of 'Sesame Street' Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions", Wired, February 22, 2017, retrieved March 1, 2017 - via YouTube
8. ^ "Sesame Street wants to get young children counted in the census". PBS. March 9, 2020.
9. ^ "Saints' gimmick jabs at Senate race". ESPN. Associated Press. May 23, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
10. ^ Movie star Muppets at dailytelegraph.com.au
11. ^ Lin, Connie (November 7, 2020). "Meme makers enlist Sesame Street's Count von Count in the fight to tally every vote". F@stcompany. Retrieved November 7, 2020.

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Sesame Street characters

Muppets of Sesame Street|

* Abby Cadabby
* Bert and Ernie
* Bert
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* Big Bird
* Cookie Monster
* Count von Count
* Elmo
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* Guy Smiley
* Julia
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Category

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Bram Stoker's Dracula

Universe

| Characters|

* Count Dracula
* Abraham Van Helsing
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* Mina Harker
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* Quincey Morris
* Renfield
* Brides of Dracula

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Publications|

* Dracula (1897)
* Powers of Darkness (1899)
* Icelandic
* "Dracula's Guest" (1914)
* Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (1914)

| Dacre Stoker|

* Dracula the Un-dead (2009)
* Dracul (2018)

|

Possible inspirations|

* Vlad II Dracul
* Vlad Călugărul
* Vlad the Impaler

Castles|

* Castle Dracula
* Bran Castle
* Poenari Castle
* Corvin Castle

Films

| Universal
series|

* Dracula (1931 English-language)
* Dracula (1931 Spanish-language)
* Dracula's Daughter (1936)
* Son of Dracula (1943)
* House of Frankenstein (1944)
* House of Dracula (1945)
* Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

|

Hammer Horror|

* Dracula (1958)
* The Brides of Dracula (1960)
* Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
* Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
* Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
* Scars of Dracula (1970)
* Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
* The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
* The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

Dracula 2000|

* Dracula 2000 (2000)
* Dracula II: Ascension (2003)
* Dracula III: Legacy (2005)

Nosferatu films|

* Nosferatu (1922)
* Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
* Nosferatu in Venice (1988)
* Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
* Nosferatu (2024)

Hotel
Transylvania |

* Hotel Transylvania (2012)
* Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)
* Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
* Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022)

Parodies|

* Transylvania 6-5000 (1963)
* Mad Monster Party? (1967)
* Batman Fights Dracula (1967)
* Mad Mad Mad Monsters (1972)
* Blood for Dracula (1974)
* Vampira (1974)
* Son of Dracula (1974)
* Dracula in the Provinces (1975)
* Dracula and Son (1976)
* Dracula Sucks (1979)
* Love at First Bite (1979)
* The Halloween That Almost Wasn't (1979)
* Fracchia contro Dracula (1985)
* Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)
* The Monster Squad (1987)
* Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988)
* Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)
* Monster Mash (1995)
* Monster Mash (2000)
* Zora the Vampire (2000)
* Monster Family (2017)

Other|

* Drakula halála (1923)
* The Return of the Vampire (1943)
* Drakula İstanbul'da (1953)
* Blood of Dracula (1957)
* The Return of Dracula (1958)
* Batman Dracula (1964)
* Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966)
* Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969)
* Santo en el tesoro de Drácula (1969)
* Count Dracula (1970)
* Los Monstruos del Terror (1970)
* Cuadecuc, vampir (1971)
* Vampyros Lesbos (1971)
* Hrabe Drakula (1971)
* Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)
* Blacula (1972)
* Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
* Bram Stoker's Dracula (1974)
* Count Dracula's Great Love (1974)
* Deafula (1975)
* Dracula's Dog (1977)
* Count Dracula (1977)
* Doctor Dracula (1978)
* Dracula (1979)
* Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula (1979)
* Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned (1980)
* Dracula's Widow (1988)
* To Die For (1989)
* Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989)
* Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
* Nadja (1994)
* Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000)
* Bara no Konrei ~Mayonaka ni Kawashita Yakusoku~ (2001)
* Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002)
* Dracula (2002)
* Van Helsing (2004)
* Van Helsing: The London Assignment (2004)
* The Vulture's Eye (2004)
* Dracula 3000 (2004)
* Blade: Trinity (2004)
* The Batman vs. Dracula (2005)
* Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse (2006)
* Dracula (2006)
* Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest (2008)
* The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008)
* House of the Wolf Man (2009)
* Young Dracula (2011)
* Dracula Reborn (2012)
* Dracula 3D (2012)
* Saint Dracula 3D (2012)
* Dracula 2012 (2013)
* Dracula: The Dark Prince (2013)
* Dracula Untold (2014)
* Renfield (2023)
* The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)
* Dracula: A Love Tale (TBA)

Television

| Series|

* Monster Squad (1976)
* Draculas ring (1978)
* Cliffhangers (1979)
* Drak Pack (1980)
* Count Duckula (1988–1993)
* Dracula: The Series (1990–1991)
* Little Dracula (1991–1999)
* Monster Force (1994)
* Ace Kilroy (2011–2012)
* Young Dracula (2006–2014)
* characters
* Dracula (2013–2014)
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* Decker (2014–2017)
* Van Helsing (2016–21)
* Hotel Transylvania: The Series (2017–2020)
* Castlevania (2017–21)
* Dracula (2020)

|

Episodes|

* "Dracula" (Mystery and Imagination) (1968)
* "Buffy vs. Dracula" (2000)
* Young Dracula episodes (2006–2014)
* Penny Dreadful episodes (2014–2016)
* Hotel Transylvania: The Series episodes (2017–2020)

| The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror|

* "Treehouse of Horror IV" (1993)
* "Treehouse of Horror XXI" (2010)

|

Other media

| Novels|

* The Dracula Tape and sequels (1975–2002)
* Anno Dracula series (1992–present)
* Anno Dracula
* The Bloody Red Baron
* Dracula Cha Cha Cha
* The Revenge of Dracula (1978)
* Little Dracula (1986)
* Dracula the Undead (1997)
* The Historian (2005)
* The Book of Renfield (2005)
* Bloodline (2005)
* Young Dracula and Young Monsters (2006)
* Fangland (2007)
* Out of the Dark (2010)

|

Radio|

* Dracula (1938)

Plays|

* Dracula (1924)
* Dracula (1995)
* Dracula (1996)

Musicals|

* Dracula (Czech musical) (1995)
* Dracula: A Chamber Musical (1997)
* Dracula, the Musical (2004)
* Dracula – Entre l'amour et la mort (2006)
* Dracula – L'amour plus fort que la mort (2011)

Comics|

* Crossover
* Dracula (Marvel Comics)
* The Tomb of Dracula
* X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula
* Captain Britain and MI13: Vampire State
* Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos
* Dracula (Dell Comics)
* Don Dracula
* Dracula Lives!
* Hellsing
* Sword of Dracula
* Batman & Dracula trilogy
* Victorian Undead
* Wolves at the Gate
* Purgatori

Video games|

* The Count (1979)
* Dracula (1983)
* Ghost Manor (1983)
* Castlevania series
* 1986–present
* Dracula
* Dracula (1986)
* Dracula the Undead (1991)
* Drac's Night Out (unreleased)
* Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993)
* Bram Stoker's Dracula (handheld) (1993)
* Dracula Unleashed (1993)
* Dracula: Resurrection (2000)
* Dracula 2: The Last Sanctuary (2000)
* Dracula: Crazy Vampire (2001)
* Van Helsing (2004)
* Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon (2008)
* Dracula: Origin (2008)
* Vampire Season Monster Defense (2012)
* Dracula 4: The Shadow of the Dragon (2013)
* Dracula 5: The Blood Legacy (2013)
* The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (2013)
* Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood (2023)

Pinball|

* Dracula (1979)
* Taxi (1988)
* Bram Stoker's Dracula (1993)
* Monster Bash (1998)

Tabletop games|

* The Fury of Dracula

Albums|

* Dracula
* Dracula 2000
* Iubilaeum Anno Dracula 2001
* Perfect Selection: Dracula Battle
* Transylvania
* Van Helsing

Songs|

* "Love Song for a Vampire"

Audio dramas|

* Son of the Dragon

Original characters

| Alternative versions
of Dracula|

* Alucard (Hellsing)
* Count Alucard
* Dracula (Castlevania)
* Dracula (Marvel Comics)
* Count Orlok
* Soma Cruz

|

Relatives of Dracula|

* Alucard (Castlevania)
* Vampire Hunter D
* Eva
* Janus Dracula
* Lilith Dracula
* Shiklah Dracula

Other|

* Blade
* Count von Count
* Simon Belmont

Related

* Lugosi v. Universal Pictures
* Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories
* Count Dracula in popular culture
* Transylvanian Society of Dracula
* Dracula Daily
* Dracula Society
* Dracula tourism
* Bibliography of works on Dracula

* Category (Dracula)
* Category (derivatives)

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