Count Floyd
Count Floyd is a fictional character featured in television and played by comic actor Joe Flaherty. He is a fictional horror host in the tradition of TV movie hosts on local television in both the United States and Canada.
The Count Floyd character originated on the Canadian sketch show SCTV, but also later appeared on The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (clips of which were used on Cartoon Planet), as well as Rush’s Signals and Grace Under Pressure tours.
The concept
As originally conceived, Count Floyd was the alter-ego of another SCTV character: Floyd Robertson, co-anchor of the SCTV News (The name was a joke based on that of Canadian news anchor Lloyd Robertson, but other than the name and occupation Floyd Robertson bears no real resemblance to his real-life counterpart).
The premise was that employees at this very low-budget TV station had to double up on jobs, so news anchor Floyd Robertson was also the host of SCTV’s Monster Chiller Horror Theatre, wearing a cheap Transylvanian vampire costume and speaking in a stereotypical Bela Lugosi type accent. Oddly, although Floyd was supposed to be a vampire, he would also open each show howling like a werewolf, presumably indicating that Floyd Robertson had only the vaguest of idea what a vampire was. Near the end of a howl, he would break off disarmingly into a weak chuckle.
Although a parody of the typical horror movie hosts that were seen on local television stations during the 1950s to 1970s, the real-life hosts were nearly always already employed in other positions at the TV stations and their horror host personas were often so silly and “over the top” that Count Floyd was not really too far off the mark.
The title Monster Chiller Horror Theatre was taken from the
Occasionally, Count Floyd would be joined by a vampire-caped sidekick known as The Pittsburgh Midget, played by Flaherty's brother Paul Flaherty, an obvious counterpart to diminutive Stefan, the Castle Prankster, played by Stephen Michael Luncinski on Chiller Theatre.
Running gags
The main
Count Floyd's frustration with the poor quality of the films on Monster Chiller Horror Theatre would sometimes cause him to break character and explain to the kids that he usually had little say in which movies he could show because the station's cheap manager would buy blocks of films in which one or two good movies were "packaged" with several clunkers. His frustration was also shown in an episode in which he mistakenly re-emerged from his coffin before the end of the show (thinking the camera was off) muttering, "Damn, who the hell schedules these things?"
Count Floyd often tried to make a quick buck during the movie by selling gimmicky products (most often 3-D glasses) which would purportedly make the film seem more scary. Prices of these products would vary wildly, as though the figures were merely popping into his head as he promoted them by quoting "You gotta send...eighteen dollars...to me, Count Floyd..."
Monster Chiller Horror Theatre did show a wide selection of cheesy
Related works
During the Signals and Grace Under Pressure tours by
One audio recording, Count Floyd (RCA MFL1-8501), was released in 1982 featuring tracks such as "Reggae Christmas Eve in Transylvania" and "The Gory Story of Duane and Debbie".[2] This was the only SCTV related audio recording apart from the Bob and Doug McKenzie discography.
In 1987, Flaherty reprised his role as Count Floyd as an in-studio host for a free weekend preview of Cinemax (where SCTV had aired its final season in 1983-84). He would similarly reprise his role as Guy Caballero for a free preview weekend on Cinemax in 1988.
In 1988, new Count Floyd skits were made for the
Count Floyd was also the pitchman for
Count Floyd hosted the 1988
In the Halloween episode of Flaherty's later show Freaks and Geeks he appears in a vampire costume and reprises the same voice in allusion, scaring away many young trick or treaters.
In 1990, Count Floyd released a how-to videotape called Making Real Funny Home Videos, ostensibly aimed at viewers who wanted to make America's Funniest Home Videos-style videos. The same year, Count Floyd appeared in a "Smoke Detectives" short where he assists some kids on how to teach fire safety to people.
Count Floyd also appeared in the original 1999 CBC Television film Must Be Santa.
In 2014, Count Floyd stars in The Wet Secrets music video "Nightlife" which pits the old school media vampire against today's glittery, new vampires in "Tweelight." This music video shows the mundane life of a vampire but allows the character to eventually take his revenge against modern, hipster vampires.[4]
References
- ^ SCTV, 10/17/77 - COUNT FLOYD'S "MADAME BLITZMAN" (YouTube). Retrieved on 2010-05-07. This was also the earliest acknowledgment of Floyd Robertson being Count Floyd.
- ^ "Count Floyd AMICUS No. 9031348". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
- ^ However, one famous horror host who doubled as a children's show host was John Zacherle, who in his "Zacherley" persona hosted The Mighty Hercules cartoons for WPIX (Channel 11) in New York City in 1963.
- exclaim.ca. Archived from the originalon 2014-01-21. Retrieved 2014-01-22.