Dance medley becomes Web hit

Judson Laipply isn’t afraid to bust a move.

Laipply, a 30-year-old comedian/motivational speaker from Cleveland, is – as he puts it – that guy at the wedding “out there dancing with everybody and having fun.”

Now, he’s cutting a rug as the It Boy of the Internet.

Laipply’s video clip, “Evolution of Dance,” taped at one of his speaking engagements, has been viewed more than 18 million times on the video Web site YouTube since April.

His combination of nerdy-guy persona and hot dance steps – everything from Elvis’ 1950s hip-bopping to today’s flashy hip-hop moves – makes for a hilarious six minutes.

Four years ago, Laipply began closing many of his appearances at colleges, high schools and corporations with the dance medley, which became a crowd favorite.

“I went out and did it once, and it went over really well, and I thought, ‘This is hilarious,’ ” he says.

After friends asked him to post a clip of it onto his Myspace.com page, Laipply obliged – also uploading it onto YouTube.com, which allows users to post videos for sharing. It holds the record as that site’s most-viewed video ever.

In the video, Laipply – sporting a bright “Orange Crush” T-shirt tucked into blue jeans – gyrates to Elvis’ “Hound Dog,” dusts off the stiff-limbed robot routine for Styx’s “Mr. Roboto” and shimmies to MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This.”

He shakes his rump to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” and snakes his neck to the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian.” He also channels John Travolta in “Grease,” does the “Y.M.C.A,” kung fu fights and break dances.

For now, he’s enjoying all the adulation but says he has “zero expectations” for his career.

“Anything that comes out of this to me is a bonus, and I will appreciate it and take it for all that it’s worth,” Laipply says.

He is, however, working on a new video, “Evolution of Dance Revisited,” which he plans to release in the next few months.

“The Hustle will be in there,” he says, “the Cha-Cha Slide, the Electric Slide, perhaps a few more (music-video) dances like ‘Hey Mickey,’ ‘Maniac’ or Men Without Hats’ ‘(The) Safety Dance.’ “