Where The Hell Is Matt (2005)

added Jun 26, 2009 at 06:43PM UTC

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About

“Where the hell is Matt?” (aka “Dancing Matt”) is a series of viral videos featuring Matt Harding dancing in front of famous landmarks and sightseeing spots around the world. According to his website, Matt first began filming himself while traveling in Vietnam with a friend in 2005:

They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said “Hey, why don’t you stand over there and do that dance. I’ll record it.” He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It’s actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.

Videos

The original video was shot in 2003 – 04 and Matt uploaded his edited clip onto YouTube in 2005. 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 became discovered before the launch of major video upload sites.

His second video has been watched 19,860,041 times on YouTube as of March 31, 2009 and Harding’s YouTube channel is ranked “#83 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Directors” as of March 31, 2009.

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 called as “Praan” composed by Garry Schyman and sung by Palbasha Siddique.

A Hoax about a hoax.

At the 2008 EG conference, Matt gave a sarcastic, farcical presentation about how his videos were an elaborate conspiracy involving animatronic puppets and high-level CGI.
Unfortunately, some people bought it. Matt then discussed the hoax about the hoax at the 2008 MacWorld Convention, effectively cementing his authenticity.

Parodies

Why The Hell is Matt Standing?

Matt Harding & Numa Numa Guy:

Where The Hell is Biggles?

Where The Hell is Afunakwa (In Search of Rorogwela)

“The Dancing Guy” on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

College Humor: Where the Hell is Matt’s Girlfriend?

Where The Hell is Anonymous Trollin?

Where The Hell is The Killer / Horror version


Where The Hell Is Matt 2008 Horror – Watch more Funny Videos

MLB All Star Celebration Parody:

Different Rooms in London:

Sources:

Wikipedia Article – Dancing Matt
Where the Hell is Matt?

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17 Comments

norsehorse89
Jun 28, 2009 at 04:25AM UTC , norsehorse89 wrote:

Is Youtube star really a meme?

Bert
Jun 29, 2009 at 02:57AM UTC , Bert wrote:

I really loved his short-film but it doesn’t really feel like a meme… It’s not parodied or ridiculed over the internet… so where does the meme part come in?
Maybe we need a more clear defenition of what is a meme…

Duncan Macdonald
Jun 29, 2009 at 11:46AM UTC , Duncan Macdonald wrote:

I genuinely hate him.

Jamie Dubs
Jun 29, 2009 at 05:35PM UTC , Jamie Dubs wrote:

Personally I favor asking “is this worth including in a database of internet phenomena” rather than strictly “is this a meme”, a label which I find to be quite vague & difficult to interpret.

That said, beyond Matt’s huge view count there’s tons of remixes & reinterpretations — start at the bottom of http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml?fbid=EtXLBTJ6RPH (I’ll append some of these to the entry)

Brad Kim
Jun 30, 2009 at 05:09PM UTC , Brad Kim wrote:

does every youtube star qualify as a meme? not sure…

are dancing matt videos a meme? with enough parodies and response videos, i think so…

was it the best idea for him to get commercially sponsored for what he does? not sure about that…(i’ll add more on that aspect of the videos)

and maybe it’d be useful to discuss the working definitions of an “internet meme”, but i don’t think coming up with specific criteria will get us too far (since people seem to have different ideas of what a meme is).

Mogani
Jul 04, 2009 at 01:29AM UTC , Mogani wrote:

“I genuinely hate him.”

why? I think what he did was pretty cool.sure its nothing special or ground breaking spectacular but it was an interesting idea.

Chris Menning
Sep 11, 2009 at 07:58PM UTC , Chris Menning wrote:

I guess Duncan was more willing to believe that an army of robots was constructed than to believe a guy danced all over the world.

Captain Blubber
Oct 09, 2009 at 10:45PM UTC , Captain Blubber wrote:

Holy hell!

The meme elimination game?

Awesome.

Jostin Asuncion
Oct 09, 2009 at 11:18PM UTC , Jostin Asuncion wrote:

@ Blubber

I know, I noticed it too. LOL! Site discussion references.

Kevin
Oct 10, 2009 at 03:43AM UTC , Kevin wrote:

How could you possibly forget that he is now in a Visa commercial campaign? They play this commercial at just about every movie theater before the previews…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVOsBVDXSzc

Zac Brechany
Oct 10, 2009 at 09:37AM UTC , Zac Brechany wrote:

About three months ago, Bert said: “I really loved his short-film but it doesn’t really feel like a meme… It’s not parodied or ridiculed over the internet… so where does the meme part come in?
Maybe we need a more clear defenition of what is a meme…”

One of the many definitions of a ‘meme’ is ‘An aspect of society which can easily be imitated and reproduced’. Now, while the Internet doesn’t really sum up as the whole global society, it still is a society in itself.

I would have to say that there hasn’t been enough parodies to credit it as an obvious meme, but there still were parodies, which means it’s still something that can easily be imitated. Anyway, that’s just me; many other people have different theories.

michael
Oct 11, 2009 at 11:45PM UTC , michael wrote:

Oh shoot! My video is on this list! Cool! =)

the AMAZING Dik Shuttle of the Fabulous ShuttleLOUNGE
Nov 03, 2009 at 03:25PM UTC , the AMAZING Dik Shuttle of the Fabulous ShuttleLOUNGE wrote:

“proving that corporate sponsorships can lead to repeated success”

…your slip is showing.

boomer
Nov 03, 2009 at 06:03PM UTC , boomer wrote:

it’s “where the hell is matt” not “where IN the hell is matt”.

psychguy
Nov 16, 2009 at 11:08PM UTC , psychguy wrote:

i think that it is amazing that someone could save up enough money to travel around the world and record himself dancing then have it become an extremely popular video

Steven Heidel
Feb 07, 2010 at 05:29AM UTC , Steven Heidel wrote:

What are all the backgrounds at the beginning?

1. ?
2. Rick Roll
3. Chocolate Rain
4. Evolution of Dance
5. ?
6. ?
7. Badger Badger Badger
8. David After Dentist
9. Ceiling Cat

Aaliyah Lester
Feb 23, 2010 at 09:22AM UTC , Aaliyah Lester wrote:

Very Awesome Image, good work !!!
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