History Main / EmbarrassingVoicemail

* [[https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinjamesthornton?lang=en Kevin James Thornton]] of Website/{{TikTok}} fame [[https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinjamesthornton/video/6960737927747996934?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id6998505182805345793 shared a story]] about [[ForcedOutOfTheCloset being outed to his frat house of fundamentalist Christians]]. After coming home, one of his housemates pressed play on the answering machine for it to be played aloud to everyone in the room.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E11MargeBeNotProud Marge Be Not Proud]]", Bart is caught shoplifting. The store manager leaves a stern message on the Simpsons' answering machine warning them of Bart's behaviour. Bart races home to get to the machine before the rest of the family, and replaces the tape with the ''Creator/AllanSherman'' single "Hello Muddah, Hello Fuddah."

** In "[[Recap/FriendsS2E7TheOneWhereRossFindsOut The One Where Ross Finds Out]]", Rachel gets drunk one night on a date and leaves a message meant for her date apologizing, in which she states that she is over Ross. Unlucky for her, she accidentally leaves that message on Ross's answering machine, unintentionally confessing that she had feelings for him for the first time. She doesn't fully remember this in the morning and is in the same room when Ross checks his voicemail, causing her to panic. [[spoiler:It works out however since this leads to Ross breaking up with his current girlfriend Julie and kissing Rachel.]]

* In the investigative documentary series ''Series/ForHeavensSake'', Mike leaves a voicemail for someone so they can meet up and discuss their family history. He fumbles on his words and stutters briefly. Although the message itself isn't that embarrassing, he's worried it sounded unprofessional and desperate.

* In the investigative documentary series ''For Heaven's Sake'', Mike leaves a voicemail for someone so they can meet up and discuss their family history. He fumbles on his words and stutters briefly. Although the message itself isn't that embarrassing, he's worried it sounded unprofessional and desperate.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'': When King Neptune interrogates Mr. Krabs about the disappearance of his crown, the answering machine receives a call and plays the message aloud. It is Plankton pretending to be someone else, thanking Mr. Krabs for stealing and selling him Neptune's crown. Neptune believes it and is furious despite Mr. Krabs' attempts to silence the voicemail.

* Ellen in ''Webcomic/LeftoverSoup'' leaves her ex-boyfriend and roommate such a voicemail when she finds out he's cheating on her. He promptly turns it into a StupidStatementDanceMix titled "Answering Machine Bitch."

Although the trope has been modernised in recent years ([[TechnologyMarchesOn now that everyone practically carries around their own answering machine of some kind]]), the height of its popularity was in the '90s and early 2000s when answering machines were being used the most. Lightweight, affordable, and uncomplicated answering machines with large capacities started really hitting the market in the '80s, but perhaps the resurgence of the studio SitCom genre in the '90s (with shows such as ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', ''Series/{{Friends}}'' and ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' hitting screens) made the simple answering machine such an easy {{Stock Shtick|s}}.

* In volume nine of ''LightNovel/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'', when Saul meets up with Seigi, he plays four increasingly panicked voicemails from Richard worrying about what trouble Seigi, a fully grown adult man, could get into in the six hours it would take Richard to fly there from Australia. Saul ignored all of them, despite Richard's desperate pleading for an immediate response and the fact that he was already looking up plane tickets.

-->'''Mark Corrigan:''' [leaving an answerphone message] Er, Sophie, if you heard that, please ignore it. I'm not a racist, far from it. Anyway... it's good to hear your voice. I know it's only a recording but you have got a bloody nice voice and... God, uh, I just called up to say hi and then...
-->'''[sings awkwardly]'''
-->'''Mark Corrigan:''' Then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like... I like you.
-->'''[pause]'''
-->'''Mark Corrigan:''' I mean, not that. But anyway, I noticed that the paper in the photocopier is running a bit low so, I know it's not really your job but, you know, so... see you tomorrow.
-->'''[puts the phone down]'''

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* [[https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinjamesthornton?lang=en Kevin James Thornton]] of [=TikTok=] fame [[https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinjamesthornton/video/6960737927747996934?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id6998505182805345793 shared a story]] about [[ForcedOutOfTheCloset being outed to his frat house of fundamentalist Christians]]. After coming home, one of his housemates pressed play on the answering machine for it to be played aloud to everyone in the room.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': In [[https://dilbert.com/strip/1995-05-24 one early strip]], Dogbert has the bright idea of waking Dilbert at 4AM to leave voicemail for his boss to create the impression that he's working around the clock. It goes horribly wrong when Dilbert groggily declares [[IntimateTelecommunications "I'm in my underwear and I thought of you"]]. He tries to erase the message, but instead [[FromBadToWorse sends it to his entire workgroup]].

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In season 7, Sheldon gets drunk and leaves a voice message for Stephen Hawking about his feelings of inadequacy in the field.

The voicemail is usually left by someone to a person they feel easily humiliated around (a love interest, a boss, or a parent). Maybe they accidentally made a PocketDial while revealing a secret. Either way, the person who ''receives'' the voicemail is usually away from home (or their mobile phone if you can believe it) and won't hear it until they get back to the machine. So, rather than admitting their true feelings or owning their embarrassment, the person would rather get to the answering machine first and delete it. This could be by WallCrawl[=ing=] an apartment complex, visiting the person's house to feign interest (and erase the message behind their back), or secretly fumbling around on the person's phone to delete it. This usually results in the message-recorder being caught, and CringeComedy ensues. In this respect, there's a lot of cross-over with IrrevocableMessage.

Oh no! You just left the most embarrassing voicemail ever! But it's not ''that'' big of a deal, right?

* ''Series/PeepShow'' : In one of Mark's early attempts to woo Sophie he leaves her the following voice mail while being egged on by Jez.
-->'''Mark Corrigan :''' [leaving an answerphone message] Er, Sophie, if you heard that, please ignore it. I'm not a racist, far from it. Anyway... it's good to hear your voice. I know it's only a recording but you have got a bloody nice voice and... God, uh, I just called up to say hi and then...

-->'''Mark Corrigan :''' Then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like... I like you.

-->'''Mark Corrigan :''' I mean, not that. But anyway, I noticed that the paper in the photocopier is running a bit low so, I know it's not really your job but, you know, so... see you tomorrow.

* [[https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinjamesthornton?lang=en Kevin James Thornton]] of [=TikTok=] fame shared a story about [[ForcedOutOfTheCloset being outed to his frat house of fundamentalist Christians]]. After coming home, one of his housemates pressed play on the answering machine for it to be played aloud to everyone in the room.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'': In the aptly named episode "[[Recap/SeinfeldS2E4ThePhoneMessage The Phone Message]]", after accidentally turning down sex on a date thinking it was just an invitation for coffee, George tries to rectify the situation by leaving a voicemail. Unfortunately, it is long, rambling, and embarrassing and he's afraid it makes him seem like an idiot. Against the advice from Jerry, George calls several times trying to clear up the matter, only to leave increasingly angry and hostile messages. Deciding she can never hear them, he and Jerry break into her apartment to erase them. They succeed only for George to learn that she had already heard them and thought they were a cute, funny joke.

Compare with WhatDidIDoLastNight, LoveLetterLunacy.

[[quoteright:300:[[https://dilbert.com/strip/1995-05-24 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dilb.png]]]]