Matt Harding is a traveler, video game designer, and Internet sensation known as “Dancing Matt” for his viral videos that feature him dancing with people from all over the world, in various nations’ major cities.
Harding is originally from Westport, Connecticut. He began his video game career at a video game supply store called Cutting Edge Entertainment. He also held an editorial position for GameWeek Magazine in Connecticut, and then as a software developer for Activision in California and then Brisbane, Australia. According to Harding, a joke about the popularity of “shooter” games led Pandemic Studios to produce the game “Destroy All Humans!”—on which he received partial credit. Matt said he “didn’t want to spend two years of [his] life writing a game about killing everyone.” And so, he quit his job and began touring the world, leading to the production of his first video.
Harding was known by his friends for a particular dance, and while video recording each other in Vietnam, his travel buddy suggested he add the dance to the video. The dancing videos were uploaded to his website for friends and family to enjoy. Before its posting on YouTube, 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. Harding created a second version of the video in 2006, with additional dancing scenes from ensuing travels. At the request of Stride Gum, he accepted a sponsorship of the video. Harding released his third dancing video in 2008. The video takes place in 42 different countries.
Matt’s videos are viewable on YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo and his own site: http://wherethehellismatt.com. His “Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)” video has been watched over 43,700,000 times on YouTube since 2011 and Harding’s YouTube channel is ranked “#83 – Most Subscribed (All Time). Jawed Karim, one of the founders of YouTube, stated that Harding’s video was his favorite on YouTube in 2007. Four years after his third video, Harding released “Where the Hell is Matt? 2012.” The video features Matt and many others dancing in 71 locations; 55 countries and 11 U.S. states.
