Count Rapula

**Count Rapula** is a vampire resident of Manhattan. He appears in *What We Do in the Shadows* (TV series).

## Biography

Count Rapula arrived in Manhattan around the year 1719. In 1991 he took up rapping, and from then on most of his dialogue consisted of freestyle rapping and beatboxing. At some point before 2019, he joined the Leather Skins, a gang of vampires led by Simon the Devious, and they frequented his nightclub, The Sassy Cat Club.

One night, the Staten Island vampires visited the club to propose that Simon join forces with them in order to take over New York. Simon initially agreed to this, on the condition that Laszlo hand over his witch skin hat, not realising it was cursed. Laszlo refused, but Rapula and the other Leather Skins intimidated him into giving it up. Simon went back on his word and kicked the vampires out of the club. As they left, the cursed hat caused Simon to accidentally blow up the club with a flaming arrow, injuring himself and most likely many other members of the Leather Skins.

Following the loss of their nightclub, the Leather Skins continued to collaborate and gained some new members. Simon plotted to get his hat back by luring Laszlo and Nadja into the sewers of Staten Island. There, he claimed that all the Leather Skins members had abandoned him apart from Count Rapula and Carol, a new member he found in the sewers. Feeling pity, Nadja invited them to their home. Simon eventually found the hat and retreated to the sewers with the roommates in pursuit, where all the Leather Skins finally revealed themselves and outnumbered them. Nadja demanded to know why Simon wanted the hat so badly, Simon asserted that he was envious of Laszlo and Nadja’s relationship and could not gain satisfaction from anyone, including his own gang. Simon then realised his foot had become stuck on the sewer grating he was standing on, which started to break, leaving him to slowly sink into the water below. Rapula, along with the rest of the Leather Skins, was offended by his lack of caring and refused to help him. Nandor, Laszlo, Nadja and Guillermo left, leaving Simon’s fate unknown.

Over a year later Count Rapula returned as part of Simon's gang, seemingly having patched up their differences between episodes. Simon would once again attempt to steal Laszlo's hat, this time creating the home improvement television programme *Go Flip Yourself* as cover to search the Vampire Residence. After Simon steals the witch skin hat he would reveal his deception to the Staten Island vampires and introduce his crew (the Leather Skins), Count Rapula is introduced as Simon's "sound guy" and Rapula enters rapping about audio engineering before being quietly hushed by Simon. Simon would later be involved in a house explosion  though it is unknown what happened to Count Rapula.

## Appearances

* *What We Do in the Shadows* (TV series)
	+ **Season 1:** "Manhattan Night Club"
	+ **Season 2:** "The Return"
	+ **Season 4:** "Go Flip Yourself

## References

Scharpling, Tom (writer) & Clement, Jemaine (director) (April 17, 2019). "Manhattan Night Club". *What We Do in the Shadows*. Episode 3. FX.
Clement, Jemaine (writer & director) (May 20, 2020). "The Return". *What We Do in the Shadows*. Episode 17. FX.
Sawyer, Marika (writer) & Gorskaya, Yana (director) (August 23, 2022). "Go Flip Yourself". *What We Do in the Shadows*. Episode 38. FX.