Mental Ilness on Sesame Street

So what's your favorite Sesame Street character?

Mine is Count von Count (a.k.a. The Count).

The Count has a compulsive love of counting (arithmomania); he will count anything and everything, regardless of size, amount, or how much annoyance he is causing the other Muppets.

*Check out the link on a case report of arithmomania on PubMed.

Born October 9, 1,830,653 BC? (1,832,652 years old according to Sesame Street Unpaved), "The Count" is one of the Muppet characters on Sesame Street, performed by Jerry Nelson.

The Count's main purpose is educating children on simple mathematics concepts, most notably counting.

Interestingly, some traditional vampire myths depict vampires as having a similar obsession with counting small objects, providing a means of distracting them by tossing a handful of seeds or salt on the ground. The Count's own arithromania 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!" Following a counting session, the Count always laughs maniacally, "AH! AH! AH!" and thunder roars overhead. When he sings, the background music resembles gypsy 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 eye-teeth, but it would appear that he is different from other vampires. For example, most vampires wither in direct sunlight; the Count does not and in fact enjoys being outside.

The Count lives in a castle which he shares with many bats. Sometimes he counts them. Some of the pet bats are named, including Batty Bat, Grisha, Misha, Sasha, and Tattiana. He has a cat, Fatatatita, as well.

The Count is very occasionally seen to have a girlfriend, Countess Dahling Von Dahling. His brother and mother have made appearance on the show.


History of the character on Sesame Street
The Count debuted on Sesame Street in Season 4 (1972-73), performed by Jerry Nelson.

He made an appearance in The Muppets Take Manhattan, then in Sesame Street movies Follow That Bird and Elmo in Grouchland.

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