Is the Count on Sesame Street a vampire?



Sesame Street's Count von Count was originally modeled after Béla Lugosi's interpretation of Count Dracula. Yet while he exhibits many classic vampire chiché - an old spooky castle, a fondness for bats, fang-like teeth, and his overal appearance - he has never been explicitly identified as a vampire.

The Count resembles Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula in voice (speaking in an Eastern European accent and pronouncing his Vs as Ws), appearance, and sometimes mannerisms. For example, in early sketches, the Count waves his hands to exercise hypnotic power over other Muppets and holds his cape over the lower part of his face while moving. In addition, an early skit revealed that the Count shows no reflection in a mirror. Unlike vampires as traditionally depicted in legend and motion pictures, however, the Count often relaxes in the sunlight (as seen in "Counting Vacation" and "Coconut Counting Man," among others). Furthermore, the Count has never demonstrated a fondness for blood or the ability to turn into a bat. However, Sesame Workshop's Facebook parody states garlic as a pet peeve of the Count.

The Count's profile on Sesame Workshop's website does not use the word vampire but does suggest that he may be a distant relative of Count Dracula. However, the book Sesame Street Unpaved describes the Count as a "Numerical Vampire." In contrast, the 2001 Sesame Street Muppets Drawing Guide insists "The Count is not a vampire."

In popular culture
An episode of the television series Family Guy addressed the issue when Peter and Brian see a clip of Sesame Street involving The Count counting bats in his castle. Peter questions to Brian about The Count’s (obvious) physical appearance, inquiring if there had ever been an episode of Sesame Street in which The Count “kills somebody and sucks on their blood for sustusance”. Brian points out that no such episode exists.