Count von Count facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Count |
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| Sesame Street character | |
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| First appearance | Episode 0406 (November 13, 1972) |
| Created by | Norman Stiles |
| Voiced by |
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| Performed by |
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| Information | |
| Aliases | The Count |
| Species | Muppet Vampire |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | Romanian |
Count von Count (known simply as the Count) is a mysterious but friendly Vampire Muppet on the long-running PBS/HBO children's television show Sesame Street who is meant to parody Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Count Dracula. He first appeared on the show in the Season 4 premiere in 1972, counting blocks in a sketch with Bert and Ernie.
Description and personality
The Count's main role is to teach counting skills to children. The Count loves counting so much (as said in his signature greeting, “They call me the count because I love to count things.”) that he often will count anything and everything regardless of size or amount, to the point of annoying other characters. In Episode 0539 (Season 5, 1973) for example, he hired Ernie to answer his telephone so that he would not be bothered while looking for things to count. He then impulsively forbade him from answering the first call that came through until it was way too late, because he wanted to count all 5 times the telephone rang, and a mêlée resulted when the caller re-tried, resulting in an argument with Ernie. In Episode 1970 (Season 16, 1984), on his first day of serving as an elevator operator, he foolishly neglected to let Kermit out at his selected floor, because he wanted to count all 10 floors in the building, and was unable to stop until he finished, leaving Kermit very angry. In Episode 3489 (Season 27, 1996), he tricked Oscar the Grouch into saying the word "no" 17 times, by continuously knocking on his trash can and prodding him to help the Count find something to count 17 of. 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 his targeted item to count, thunderstorms roll (even indoors) while laughs his iconic "Ah-Ah-Ah!" stacato 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. He spent his childhood in the Carpathian Mountains, which makes it clear he is Romanian, as explained in his most famous song "The Batty Bat". His pet bats tend to have Slavic names, such as Grisha, Misha, Sasha, and Tatiana. He views the bats as his "children" and sometimes counts them. 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, 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 (debuting in Sesame Street's 28th season) who counts backward, her total is indicated by the sound of a wolf howling; 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. His grandparents are unnamed but they too love to count and have the similar laugh (ah ah ah!), but instead of thunder and lightning, Grandma Count’s counting makes it rain, and Grandpa Count’s counting makes it snow.
The Count has a personal cloud hovering over him, which is the possibility of the source of his thunder and lightning. Some residents have been disturbed by it in a few episodes, for example, it interrupted Kermit's broadcast at the Three Little Pigs' house, and the pigs were frightened by it, thinking rain would follow, and 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 featured in a 1978 Sesame Street bedtime storybook and 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.
The Count mentions 2:30 at any chance he can get and often makes jokes about it. This number is likely a tooth-related pun ("Tooth Hurty"). During the afternoon, his segments of the show always come on at exactly 2:30 p.m. or during the "fashionably late" segment, which airs at 2:31.
The Count's signature song is "The Song of the Count". The song was written by Jeff Moss as a traditional Hungarian Csárdás. He might not be a vampire in the classic sense, given that he has been seen with a reflection in a mirror, and he has no problem with being out in the daylight.
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, even 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.
Internationally
- In the Dutch version of the series, Sesamstraat, the Count's name is Graaf Tel (literally, "Count (nobleman) Count (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")
See also
In Spanish: Count von Count para niños
