The Passionated and Objective Jokerfan is a Motern Media novelty song band, with Matt Farley as the sole main contributor.
As the Jokerfan, Farley primarily focuses on musicians, although he has deviated to other subjects and famous people at times (much like Papa Razzi and the Photogs). He has also created light lore around the character of the Jokerfan, especially on the 2014 No-Jokes album Intensely Personal Songs.
With 17 albums, the Jokerfan is one of the most prolific Motern Media bands on the roster. However, Farley has not put any new music out under this name since 2016, except for a custom song released in 2017.
History
The Passionate and Objective Jokerfan is one of Farley’s earliest novelty song bands, beginning back around the time of the development of Papa Razzi and the Photogs. Where Papa Razzi covered songs about celebrities from movies and other visual media, the Jokerfan would cover songs about popular musicians. However, as Farley continued making music under those monikers, their “interests” would often bleed into each other’s work.
I Love Bob Dylan!, an 18-track record dedicated to Dylan, was released under the Jokerfan’s name in June 2008. Farley was (and still is) a big Dylan fan, hence the release of the album. Subsequent releases as the Jokerfan focused on multiple artists per album, instead of focusing on one specific artist. For example, Songs About Singers — the Jokerfan’s second album — covers Wesley Willis, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, and Fiona Apple, among others.
Farley continued to write songs about musicians as the Jokerfan throughout the early 2010s, putting out twelve records before releasing Intensely Personal Songs under the name in January 2014. This album featured more personal works as the character of the Jokerfan, although many of the tracks relate to Farley’s life as well. According to the Motern Media No-Jokes Album Guide, Farley said he thought the idea of such an album “could be funny… and creatively satisfying”. It was the first seriocomic album from one of Farley’s various Motern Media bands, which set a trend that he would continue with other monikers (such as The Very Nice Interesting Singer Man on Keep Being Awesome! or The Guys Who Sings About Cities and Towns on I’ve Never Left My Hometown.)
In August 2016, Farley released I Quite Enjoy Making Good Songs under the Jokerfan name, but all of the song titles on the record that feature musical artist names have those names spelled in reverse. This was to get around a new rule on streaming services (mostly Spotify) preventing artists from having other artists’ names in their song titles.
Future
Aside from a single released in July 2017 (“Slifa is a Super-Smart Scientist”), Farley has not put out any new music as The Passionate and Objective Jokerfan. It is not known why: Perhaps Farley was frustrated with the rules preventing him from using names in song titles, or he was simply burnt out writing as the character. However, Farley has not ruled out more novelty songs in the future, and so it is entirely possible that the Jokerfan will make an appearance again.
Writing and quirks
Some of Farley’s songs under the Passionate and Objective Jokerfan moniker riff on existing song titles, such as “You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful (Because You’re Stupid)” (after One Direction), “Quit Playing Games With My Heart, Doctor” (after The Beatles), and “I’m Never Gonna Give You Up (To The Police)” (after Rick Astley). This is not to take traffic away from other artists, but to be tongue-in-cheek and continue to entertain fans who are actively seeking out his work.
Farley also writes about other things besides musicians as The Passionate and Objective Jokerfan, such as Internet memes (“What Did The Fox Say? (Was He Talking About Me?)”). Especially on Intensely Personal Songs, his content deviates into the realm of advice and personal opinions (“Polyamory Is Bad. Just Kiss One Person.”, “You Can’t Be Friends With Your Ex-Boyfriend. Sorry.”, and “Eat at a Restaurant Alone. It’s Ok!”, et al.)
Discography
| Year | No. | Album | Tracks/Run Time | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 1 | I Love Bob Dylan! | 18 (44:31) | June 16, 2008 |
| 2009 | 2 | Songs About Singers | 23 (40:57) | February 4, 2009 |
| 3 | 27 (46:03) | September 8, 2009 | ||
| 2010 | 4 | Unofficial Tributes to Officially Awesome Music People | 33 (1:06:00) | September 9, 2010 |
| 2011 | 5 | Unexpected Songs of Joy, and Celebrations of Music Stars | 72 (2:16:00) | April 27, 2011 |
| 6 | Songs About Albums: Record Reviews and Ruminations | 70 (1:56:00) | November 6, 2011 | |
| 2012 | 7 | Songs Song Sing Songs Onion Llama | 81 (2:10:00) | February 22, 2012 |
| 8 | Nice Man Sings Song for the People Songs Yes Now Cover Up! | 92 (2:23:00) | April 24, 2012 | |
| 9 | The People Love This Guy Because He Makes Great Songs Like These Ones | 87 (2:20:00) | October 3, 2012 | |
| 10 | Good Songs About People Who Make Good Songs Always | 90 (2:13:00) | December 2, 2012 | |
| 2013 | 11 | Songs, Singers, Goats, Writers, Critics…all Sorts of Stuff! | 85 (2:08:00) | April 10, 2013 |
| 12 | People Who Like These Songs Are Correct | 79 (1:59:00) | September 25, 2013 | |
| 2014 | 13 | Intensely Personal Songs | 43 (1:02:00) | January 6, 2014 |
| 14 | Not Sure What To Make Of This | 43 (1:01:00) | March 31, 2014 | |
| 15 | Here’s Another Brilliant Album For You to Misunderstand | 93 (2:12:00) | July 20, 2014 | |
| 2015 | 16 | Stupid People Hate These Songs Because They’re Dumb | 90 (2:14:00) | May 13, 2015 |
| 2016 | 17 | I Quite Enjoy Making Good Songs | 40 (56:27) | August 9, 2016 |
| 2017 | Single | Silfa Is a Super-Smart Scientist | Single (1:48) | July 1, 2017 |
