Joe Flaherty
Joe Flaherty (June 21, 1941 - April 1, 2024) was an American-Canadian actor and comedian. He was best known for playing Count Floyd on the Canadian sketch show SCTV (1976-1984). Count Floyd was a vampire and a parody of a typical scary TV presenter of a horror TV show. His catchphrase was a long werewolf howl. Later in his career, Flaherty also played Harold Weir on the TV series Freaks and Geeks.
Links with Zappa
On page 145 of The Real Frank Zappa Book, Zappa claimed that the first time he say Flaherty playing Count Floyd he almost choked on his coffee from laughing. Flaherty's performance surprised and amused him since it was the "pure essence of monster movies", without even speaking English.
During Zappa's concerts, Ike Willis would sometimes howl just like Count Floyd. On the same page of The Real Frank Zappa Book, Zappa claimed that he enjoyed Willis' imitation: "Of course it's incredibly stupid. That's why I like it."
