Matt Harding

Matt Harding
Matthew Harding

Matt Harding in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, Japan on January 27, 2007.
Born Matthew Harding
September 27, 1976 (1976-09-27) (age 35)
Internet information
Web alias(es) Matt
Web hosting service(s) YouTube
Meme Where the Hell is Matt?
Website
http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/

Matthew "Matt" Harding (born September 27, 1976), is an American traveler, video game designer, and Internet celebrity known as Dancing Matt for his viral videos that show him dancing in front of landmarks and street scenes in various international locations. Harding has since received widespread coverage of his travel exploits in major print and broadcast media outlets,[1][2][3][4][5] and was hired by Visa to star in their Travel Happy campaign.[6]

He is originally from Westport, Connecticut.[7] He began his game industry career working for a video game specialty store called Cutting Edge Entertainment. Harding later worked as an editor for GameWeek Magazine in Wilton, Connecticut, and then as a software developer for Activision in Santa Monica, California and then Brisbane, Australia.

Harding claims that a sarcastic joke about the popularity of shoot 'em up games led Pandemic Studios to develop the game Destroy All Humans!, on which he received a conceptual credit. Saying he "didn't want to spend two years of my life writing a game about killing everyone", he quit his job and began traveling, leading to the production of his first video.[8]

On 11 December 2008, Matt Harding sarcastically revealed at the Entertainment Gathering that the videos were a hoax and that he is an actor, not a game designer, and the videos were made using animatronic puppets and extensive video editing.[9] A month later, during the MacWorld convention, Matt revealed the "hoax about the hoax" and joked about the fact many people took it seriously and the outrage it caused. He also made it very clear that the videos he made were indeed 100% real.[10]

Contents

Where the Hell is Matt?

Harding was known by his friends for a particular dance, and while video recording each other in Vietnam, his travel companion suggested he add the dance. The videos were uploaded to his website for friends and family to enjoy. Later, Harding edited together 15 dance scenes, all with him center frame, with the background music "Sweet Lullaby" by "Deep Forest". The original Song uses samples from a dying Solomon Islands language which was recorded in 1971 by a French ethnomusicologist at the Solomon Islands near Papua New Guinea. The song, "Rorogwela" was sung by a young woman named Afunakwa. According to the video "Where the Hell is Afunakwa" by Matt Harding, Afunakwa died in 1998.

The video was passed around by e-mail and eventually became viral, with his server getting 20,000 or more hits a day as it was discovered, generally country by country due to language barriers, before the launch of major video upload sites.

Harding created a second version of the video in 2006, with additional dancing scenes from subsequent travels, called "Dancing 2006". At the request of Stride, a gum brand, he accepted sponsorship[11] of this video, since he usually travels on a limited budget.

Harding released his third dancing video on June 20, 2008. The video is the product of 14 months of traveling in 42 countries. The background music/song of this video is known as "Praan" composed by Garry Schyman and sung by Palbasha Siddique, with lyrics adapted from the poem "Stream of Life," a part of the Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore.[12]

As of August 2008, Harding is represented by Creative Artists Agency.[13] His videos are viewable on YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo and his own site wherethehellismatt.com. His "Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)" video has been watched over 38,620,000 times on YouTube and Harding's YouTube channel is ranked "#83 - Most Subscribed (All Time) - Directors" as of December 22, 2010.[14][15]

Major media coverage

Harding's video clips have appeared on television shows including:

Harding was bumped from Good Morning America on September 8, 2005, due to coverage of Hurricane Katrina, but appeared on May 31, 2006, dancing outside the GMA studio in Times Square with footage from his videos displayed on the Panasonic Astro Vision screen on One Times Square.

In November 2006, Harding was invited to lecture at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, about the experience of making the video and subsequent fame. He also was filmed dancing with students from the college.[16]

In 2007, Jawed Karim, one of the founders of YouTube, stated that Harding's video is his favorite video posted to YouTube.[17]

On July 22, 2008 and again on July 25, 2010, NASA featured Harding's third video on their APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) website, titled "Happy People Dancing on Planet Earth", making claim of humans worldwide sharing a common love of dance. The website states that "few people are able to watch the above video without smiling".[18] Harding himself has joked that he is impressed with this, especially since the video has nothing to do with astronomy, nor is a picture.

On November 2008, Matt and the vocalist Palbasha were interviewed by KFAI radio in Minnesota.[19] It is a behind-the-scene story about finding the musician.

Videos

First video

  1. China Beijing, China.
  2. Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam.
  3. India Delhi, Bengal Jungle, Agra;India.
  4. Russia Moscow, Siberia;Russia.
  5. Thailand Bangkok, Thailand.
  6. Czech Republic Prague, Czech Republic.
  7. Cambodia Angkor Wat, Cambodia
  8. United States Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Westport;USA
  9. Mongolia Suhbaatar, Mongolia.
  10. Tanzania Kilimanjaro Summit, Tanzania.
  11. Mexico Monte Alban, Mexico.
  12. Kenya Tsavo, Kenya.
  13. Uganda Impenetrable Forest, Uganda.
  14. Myanmar Yangon, Myanmar.

Second video

  1. Bolivia Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.
  2. Jordan Petra, Jordan.
  3. Peru Machu Picchu, Peru.
  4. Italy Venice, Italy.
  5. Japan Tokyo, Japan.
  6. Ecuador Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
  7. Australia Brisbane, Australia.
  8. Laos Luang Prabang, Laos.
  9. Brunei Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
  10. United States Area 51, Nevada.
  11. Guatemala Tikal, Guatemala.
  12. Belize Half Moon Caye, Belize.
  13. Namibia Sossusvlei, Namibia.
  14. New Zealand Routeburn Valley, New Zealand.
  15. United States Monument Valley, Arizona.
  16. Antarctica South Shetland Islands.
  17. Federated States of Micronesia Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia.
  18. England London, England.
  19. United States Very Large Array, New Mexico.
  20. Egypt Abu Simbel, Egypt.
  21. Chile Easter Island, Chile.
  22. France Haute-Picardie, France.
  23. China Mutianyu, China.
  24. United States New York, New York.
  25. Turkey Ephesus, Turkey.
  26. Guam Guam.
  27. Botswana Mokolodi, Botswana.
  28. Germany Berlin, Germany.
  29. Australia Sydney, Australia.
  30. United Arab Emirates Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
  31. Palau Rock Islands, Palau.
  32. Rwanda Mulindi, Rwanda.
  33. Antarctica Neko Harbour, Antarctica.
  34. Norway Kjeragbolten, Norway.
  35. United States San Francisco, California.
  36. United States Seattle, Washington.

Third video

  1. India Mumbai, India
  2. Bhutan Paro, Bhutan
  3. United Kingdom Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland
  4. Zanzibar Stone Town, Zanzibar
  5. Western AustraliaAustralia Lancelin, Australia
  6. Netherlands Lisse, Netherlands
  7. Christmas IslandAustralia Christmas Island, Australia
  8. Kuwait Kuwait City, Kuwait
  9. Mexico Teotihuacán, Mexico
  10. Iceland Seljalandsfoss, Iceland
    1. (Quick scenes of transition from dancing alone to with others) Republic of Ireland Dublin, Ireland
    2. MassachusettsUnited States Boston, Massachusetts, United States
    3. OntarioCanada Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    4. Belgium Atomium, Brussels, Belgium
    5. Portugal Praça do Comércio, Lisbon, Portugal
    6. British ColumbiaCanada Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    7. CaliforniaUnited States San Francisco, California, United States
    8. France Paris, France
    9. Victoria (Australia)Australia Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
    10. Washington, D.C.United States Washington DC, United States
    11. Illinois Chicago, Illinois
  11. Spain Madrid, Spain
  12. Madagascar Antseranana, Madagascar
  13. QueenslandAustralia Brisbane, Australia
  14. Republic of Ireland Dublin, Ireland
  15. Argentina Buenos Aires, Argentina
  16. Zambia Chakachino, Zambia
  17. Turkey Istanbul, Turkey
  18. Fiji Wainivilase, Fiji
  19. England London, England
  20. Sweden Stockholm, Sweden
  21. Solomon Islands Auki, Solomon Islands
  22. Yemen Sana'a, Yemen
  23. Kyrgyzstan Ala Archa Gorge, Kyrgyzstan
  24. Philippines Tagaytay, Philippines
  25. South KoreaNorth Korea Demilitarized Zone, Korea
  26. Mali Timbuktu, Mali
  27. Poland Warsaw, Poland
  28. Texas Austin, Texas
  29. Japan Tokyo, Japan
  30. Papua New Guinea Poria, Papua New Guinea
  31. Florida Miami, Florida
  32. BavariaGermany Munich, Germany
  33. Tonga Tongatapu, Tonga
  34. Illinois Chicago, Illinois
  35. Bhutan Thimphu, Bhutan
  36. India Gurgaon, India
  37. New South WalesAustralia Sydney, Australia
  38. Portugal Lisbon, Portugal
  39. South Korea Seoul, South Korea
  40. South Africa Soweto, South Africa
  41. New York New York, New York.
  42. Japan Tokyo, Japan
  43. Tonga Vava'u, Tonga
  44. South Africa Cape of Good Hope, South Africa
  45. Panama Panama Canal, Panama
  46. Jordan Wadi Rum, Jordan
  47. Madagascar Lemur Island, Madagascar
  48. New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand
  49. Morocco Batik, Morocco
  50. Netherlands Amsterdam, Netherlands
  51. Georgia (U.S. state) Atlanta, Georgia
  52. Mexico Mexico City, Mexico
  53. Belgium Brussels, Belgium
  54. California San Francisco, California
  55. Republic of China Taipei, Taiwan
  56. Canada Vancouver, British Columbia
  57. United States Washington DC, United States.
  58. Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  59. North Rhine-WestphaliaGermany Cologne, Germany
  60. Singapore Singapore
  61. California Alhambra, California
  62. Palestinian National Authority East Jerusalem, West Bank
  63. France Paris, France
  64. MontrealQuebec Montreal, Quebec
  65. Nevada Nellis Airspace, Nevada
  66. California Los Angeles, California
  67. Brazil Sao Paulo, Brazil
  68. Washington (state) Seattle, Washington

Fourth Video - South Africa

In preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Matt Harding created a special video to celebrate the occasion in which he performed the Diski Dance in locations across South Africa. He uploaded the video to YouTube on March 5, 2010. The following locations were shown in the video in the order listed. Some locations were visited several times.[20]

  1. South Africa Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton, Johannesburg
  2. South Africa The Pinnacle, Mossel Bay
  3. South Africa Hout Bay, Cape Town
  4. South Africa Table Mountain, Cape Town
  5. South Africa Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
  6. South Africa Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
  7. South Africa South African Airways
  8. South Africa Boulders Beach, near Cape Town
  9. South Africa Soweto Cooling Towers, Soweto. Johannesburg
  10. South Africa Robben Island
  11. South Africa Soccer City, Soweto, Johannesburg
  12. South Africa Table Mountain, Cape Town
  13. South Africa Cape of Good Hope
  14. South Africa Camp Jabulani, Hoedspruit[21]
  15. South Africa Blyde River Canyon, Mpumalanga
  16. South Africa Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton, Johannesburg
  17. South Africa Bourke's Luck Potholes, Blyde River Canyon, Mpumalanga[22]
  18. South Africa Soweto Cooling Towers, Soweto. Johannesburg
  19. South Africa Hout Bay, Cape Town
  20. South Africa Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton, Johannesburg
  21. South Africa Mac Mac Pools, near Mac-Mac Falls, Mpumalanga
  22. South Africa Lesedi Cultural Village, near Johannesburg
  23. South Africa Camp Jabulani, Hoedspruit
  24. South Africa Bourke's Luck Potholes, Blyde River Canyon, Mpumalanga
  25. South Africa Lesedi Cultural Village, near Johannesburg
  26. South Africa Soccer City, Soweto, Johannesburg
  27. South Africa Table Mountain, Cape Town
  28. South Africa Johannesburg
  29. South Africa Boulders Beach, near Cape Town
  30. South Africa The Pinnacle, Mossel Bay
  31. South Africa Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton, Johannesburg
  32. South Africa Soccer City, Soweto, Johannesburg
  33. South Africa South African Airways

Videogame development credits

Harding's development credits include:[23]

Parodies

  • On the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Matt Harding is parodied on episode "Frank Sets Sweet Dee on Fire" by "The Dancing Guy" (a bald local celebrity on a Public-access television cable TV that dances to rave music in front of different shots of nature while wearing nothing but his underwear or a diaper).
  • CollegeHumor created a video Where the Hell is Matt's Girlfriend which depicts Matt's girlfriend cheating on him as he dances around the world.
  • BlameSocietyFilms also made a parody titled "Where the Hell is Shut-In Matt" and it has a shut-in named Matt dancing around his apartment.
  • RandumbProd made a parody as well titled "Where The Hell Is Dane?" with creator Dane Kevin Cook dancing around his town in a variety of humorous places.

References

  1. ^ Benji Lanyado (December 23, 2006). "Dance, dance, wherever you may be". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2008-07-10. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZDNiue2N. Retrieved 2006-12-28. "In the year we became obsessed with YouTube and MySpace, perhaps it's no surprise that a blog of a bloke doing a silly dance around the world got five million hits [...] Tis the season to give out awards. So, here's another one. My award for Alternative Travel Hero for 2006 goes to (cue drum roll, split screen of smiling nominees) ... Matt Harding." 
  2. ^ Andrea Sachs (October 22, 2006). "The Guy Who Danced Around the Globe". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2008-07-10. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZDM15iMn. Retrieved 2006-12-28. "So, where the hell is Matt? We found him in Seattle, but before that, Matt Harding, 30, was everywhere. In 2003, the video-game maker performed a silly free-form dance in more than a dozen countries, which he filmed and then posted on his Web site at http://www.wherethehellismatt.com." 
  3. ^ James Gilden (September 3, 2006). "Amateurs' talent: Giving us a local perspective on the world". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-internet3sep03,1,6277665.column?coll=la-travel-headlines. Retrieved 2006-12-28. "THE man in the video is doing some sort of quirky dance in a foreign land, arms flailing and flopping, feet moving as if walking over hot coals. There is nothing graceful or beautiful about the dance. Nonetheless it communicates an infectious joy that defies easy characterization. In short, it is fun to watch. [...] "It's just something I've always done," said Matt Harding, who created and stars in the video. "It's that dance that kids do when they're 2 or 3 years old." [dead link]
  4. ^ Kristin Jackson (October 5, 2006). "Dancing around the world (and Web)". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2008-07-10. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZDNzonS2. Retrieved 2006-12-28. "It's a 20-something's fantasy: Travel around the world, dance a lot and get paid to do it. [...] Matt Harding of Seattle made that dream come true. And he's turning into an Internet star, thanks to a short video he made of his recent trip that's become wildly popular on the Web." 
  5. ^ Mike Musgrove (July 13, 2008). "Product Placement Creeps Into Amateurs' YouTube Offerings". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/12/AR2008071200141.html. Retrieved 2008-07-14. "Matt Harding has this silly dance he does, this running-in-place thing where he waves his arms around spastically. If it had a name, you might call it the Excited Toddler." 
  6. ^ Travel the world with the currency of the world, 20 November 2008. Press release by Visa. "Visa's new travel-focused commercial recreates the dance made famous by internet celebrity Matt Harding in his self-made quirky video travel diaries."
  7. ^ McGrath, Charles (2008-07-08). "A Private Dance? Four Million Web Fans Say No". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2008-07-10. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZDP8FJWx. Retrieved 2008-07-08. "Mr. Harding, who grew up in Westport, Conn., skipped college at the suggestion of his father," 
  8. ^ Jordan Smith (August 26, 2005). "Dancing Matt coming to town". Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2008-07-10. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZDPxw6P5. Retrieved 2006-12-16. "Harding didn't. "I … didn't want to spend two years of my life writing a game about killing everyone," he said" 
  9. ^ "Matt Harding: Where the Hell is Matt? a Hoax". FORA.tv. December 11, 2008. http://fora.tv/2008/12/11/Matt_Harding_Where_The_Hell_Is_Matt_an_Elaborate_Hoax. 
  10. ^ "Not to dwell but...". January 09, 2009. http://wherethehellismatt.typepad.com/blog/2009/01/seattle-washington-not-to-dwell-but.html. 
  11. ^ "Meet Matt". Stride gum. Archived from the original on 2007-03-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20070320072824/http://www.stridegum.com/whereismatt.asp. Retrieved 2006-12-16. "We really liked the idea of a ridiculously long dance round the world. So we supported him on his second tour." 
  12. ^ "Where the Hell is Matt (2008)". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&fmt=22. Retrieved 2009-02-07. 
  13. ^ "It Was a Musical Thing and You Were Supposed to Dance". http://wherethehellismatt.typepad.com/blog/2008/08/traverse-city-m.html. 
  14. ^ "mattharding2718 Channel". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2008-07-10. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZDQqM8Ds. Retrieved 2007-03-15. "#100 - Most Subscribed (All Time) - Directors #12 - Most Viewed (This Month) #7 - Most Viewed (This Month) - Directors" 
  15. ^ "Directors - Most Subscribed (All Time)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2008-07-10. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZDR6GJyJ. Retrieved 2008-07-10. "#99" 
  16. ^ Harding, Matt (2006-12-14). ""Where the Hell is Matt?" Lecture Part 1 of 3". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. http://www.webcitation.org/5aRZyWIFg. Retrieved 2008-08-29. 
  17. ^ "YouTube co-founder tells grads to be persistent, take risks". http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/news/articles.php?id=2007May15-266. Retrieved 2008-10-14. 
  18. ^ "Astronomy Picture of the Day". ASD at NASA. 2008-07-22. Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. http://www.webcitation.org/5aRaALDTS. Retrieved 2008-08-29. 
  19. ^ "Matt and the vocalist Palbasha were interviewed by KFAI radio in Minnesota". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEPlVmn5YLY. Retrieved 2008-11-14. 
  20. ^ "Where the Hell is Matt in South Africa?" on YouTube
  21. ^ - Camp Jabulani Official Website
  22. ^ [1]
  23. ^ "Matthew Harding". MobyGames. Archived from the original on 2008-07-10. http://www.webcitation.org/5ZDVnibB0. Retrieved 2008-07-10. "Games Credited Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow (2006), Bethesda Softworks LLC [...] Destroy All Humans! (2005), THQ Inc. [...] Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Activision Publishing, Inc. [...] Army Men RTS (2002), 3DO Company, The [...] Dark Reign 2 (2000), Activision Publishing, Inc. [...] Battlezone II: Combat Commander (1999), Activision Publishing, Inc. [...] Battlezone (1998), Activision, Inc. [...] Zork: Grand Inquisitor (1997), Activision, Inc." 

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