Bats

A bat from Gonzo's play BATS.

The Bats are pets of Count von Count on Sesame Street. According to the book There's No Place Like Home two thousand and twelve bats living in the Count's castle, but only some have names, such as Grisha, Misha, Sasha, and Tattiana. In the book The Count Counts a Party, his number one bat is identified as Lyuba. On Sesamestreet.org's main page video for Number 5 Day (May 15, 2009), one of the Count's bats is named Louis.

The bats rarely speak; most of the time they just flap around like real bats do. In one 1970s sketch when the bats spoke, the leading bat was voiced by Frank Oz.

As a singing group, they have been credited as Ftatateeta and the Bats on "The Batty Bat" and "Count Up to Nine."

On The Muppet Show, Judy Collins performed "Leatherwing Bat" with Brown Bat in episode 205, and some more realistic bats were featured in Episode 119 and in the Dracula-themed number, "Welcome to My Nightmare" in episode 307. Bats were also featured in the "Bats: the Musical" sketch in episode 108 of Muppets Tonight, in which host Jason Alexander and his old college buddy Gonzo wore bat costumes for the performance.

Leah the Fruit Bat was featured in the second episode of The Animal Show, and the puppet was later reused as Benny the Bat on Bear in the Big Blue House.

Book appearances

• The Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook (1973)
• The Sesame Street ABC Storybook (1974)
• The Sesame Street Postcard Book (1976)
• The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook (1978)
• Big Bird's Rhyming Book (1979)
• Prairie Dawn's Upside-Down Poem (1981)
• There's No Place Like Home (1983)
• Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street (1985)
• Pumpkin Patch Party (1997)
• The Count's Castle (2001)

See also

• Batman
• Dracula