Papa Razzi and the Photogs is a Motern Media novelty song band, featuring Matt Farley as the sole member.
As Papa Razzi and the Photogs, Farley focuses on celebrities, although the fame of the subjects of his songs varies greatly. In fact, many songs are about small local talents, people who have contacted or written about Farley, or folks who have shown any interest in him or his work.
Papa Razzi and the Photogs have released 39 albums from 2007 to 2024, totaling 2,690 songs (with each album containing anywhere from 14 to 100 songs.) It is one of Motern Media’s most popular novelty bands: It received press from New Hampshire Chronicle, was featured on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and got a shout-out in Cosmopolitan when Kylie and Kris Jenner danced to “Kris Jenner, You Are a World Famous Wonderful Woman” on TikTok.
History
Farley began Papa Razzi and the Photogs in 2007, when he was still making music mostly with Tom Scalzo as Moes Haven. He realized that the only songs of his making any money were ones with funny titles (“Forgot To Wipe”, “Shut Up Your Monkey”, “Pickle Sandwich”, et al.) or ones that mentioned celebrities (“I Love Hugh Grant”). Because of this, he began to write more novelty songs in order to maximize his streaming revenue. He released Dream Girls, the act’s first record, on July 19, 2007, just one week after releasing Go Red Sox! as The Boston Baseball Band.
Farley has described the character of Papa Razzi as “a desperate sycophant” who begs famous people to be friends with him. He has stated that he does not relate to the character in real life, or at least he hopes that isn’t how people actually see him.
While Farley originally started writing about celebrities, as he continued to increase his output, he began to widen his scope to write about political figures, various famous figures from history, then people of any notability whatsoever, and finally anyone that came to his mind. He also recorded songs that had nothing to do with people whatsoever, especially on the 2011 album Papa Razzi Gets Introspective, Shares His Worldview, And Offers Advice. On that album, the song “It’s OK if you Poop/Pee Your Pants Sometimes. Don’t Feel Bad” has received millions of streams on Spotify.
Like many of Farley’s other novelty acts, Papa Razzi and the Photogs writes, records, and releases the songs at a rapid pace, often researching his subject quickly to craft his lyrics. On the 2010 album Fame is Awesome!, he sings a song about and named after the band, in which he states that Dream Girls took three days to write and record. He then mentions that he has put less and less effort into following albums under the moniker.
In the later years of the act, album titles became more conversational and almost pleading, such as Somebody Needed to Make These Songs, So, What Do You Think of These Songs?, I Don’t Know Why I Do This, and I Feel Dumb Singing About Famous People So Much But It’s All I Know.
Notoriety
In 2010, New Hampshire Chronicle (a local TV show produced by Manchester, New Hampshire ABC affiliate WMUR-TV) featured Farley as Papa Razzi and the Photogs. Farley played clips of different songs in Papa Razzi’s catalog up to that point, including one to now-retired host Fritz Wetherbee. He also wrote and performed one about host Tiffany Eddy, who was interviewing him on the program. (Eddy has also since left WMUR.)
Because the act often mentions celebrities in adoring fashion, Papa Razzi’s songs appear in other content across the Internet, especially on YouTube. For instance, a fan-made video of “Jensen Ackles, Great Man” from Celebrity People Are The Better People Yes True is among the most-watched videos featuring a Papa Razzi song.
On August 30, 2016, as Papa Razzi and the Photogs, Farley performed “Used To Be A Pizza Hut” from I Feel Compelled to Make Good Songs on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, at the show producers’ request. The performance featured Farley singing the song in front of a slideshow of buildings that used to be Pizza Hut restaurants. This increased Farley’s national exposure.
On July 29, 2022, Kylie Jenner posted a TikTok of herself and Kris Jenner dancing to “Kris Jenner, You Are A World Famous Wonderful Woman” from Papa Razzi’s 2012 album The Life of This Legendary American Music Man is Quite Good, Yes. The TikTok gained millions of views, adding to Farley’s increased audience via the social media platform. It even gained a great deal of celebrity press coverage, albeit somewhat inaccurate. Cosmopolitan credited the track to Papa Razzie (misspelling the act’s name) and commented that the band must have been big fans of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. (Farley’s opinions of the show or the Kardashian family are heretofore unknown.)
