Count von Count

Description

The Count's main role in the show is to educate children about simple mathematical concepts, most notably, as his name partially implies, counting. The Count loves counting so much that the behavior is obsessive for this character, and on some occasions the other characters can be quite annoyed by his actions. This could imply that the character suffers from Arithmomania. In Season 6, for instance, he once prevented Ernie from answering a telephone because he wanted to continue counting the number of times the telephone rang. Another time, while serving as an elevator operator, he refused to let Kermit the Frog get out at his selected floor so he could count every floor in the building. The Count can occasionally lose his temper when somebody or something interrupts his 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.

The Count lives in an old, cobweb-infested castle which he shares with many bats and a cat named Fatatita. He spent his childhood in the Carpathian Mountains, which makes it clear he is Romanian. Perhaps not surprising, he speaks in an accent from that area of the world. 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 backwards; Countess Dahling von Dahling (debuted in the 12th season); and one simply named "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.

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 may represent an inside joke ("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 "Eight is Great" ("You can hold it this way, you can hold it that way, it is still 8").

History and "physicality" of the character

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. He was originally made out of the Large Lavender Live Hand Anything Muppet pattern. 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.

In the early 1970s, following a counting session, the Count would laugh maniacally, "AH AH AH AH AH!", accompanied by thunder and lightning flashes. He wouldn't let anything interrupt his counting, and used hypnotic powers to temporarily stun people with a wave of his hands. This practice, however, was discontinued in the mid-1970s because of concern that young viewers would become frightened. In the mid-1970s, the Count became friendlier, did not have hypnotic powers, and interacted more with the characters (both live actors and Muppets). His laugh also changed from maniacal laughter to a more triumphant, stereotypical Dracula-style laugh.

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 and The Adventures of 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. He also says "Hi, Mom" when a credit appears for Joan Ganz Cooney, creator of Sesame Street.

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

Internationally

Appearances outside Sesame Street

In popular culture

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.

Australian rugby league football international Anthony Minichiello has been nicknamed 'The Count' due to his striking resemblance to the character.