History Main / EmbarrassingVoicemail

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* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': In "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbIBrobot I, Brobot]], Doofenshmirtz plans to hover over his girlfriend's house with a huge magnet so he can erase embarrassing messages he left on her voicemail.

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 BottomOfTheBarrelJoke.

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* ''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 "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]].

* In one of ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'''s "Marzipan's Answering Machine" videos, [[TheDitz Homestar]] completely misunderstands a message Marzipan left with Pom-Pom for him as some kind of insult and sends her an angry breakup message in turn. After Pom-Pom clears things up, Homestar tries to erase his message by talking backward, then goes to Marzipan's house and steals the tape, replacing it with one of his own where he badly impersonates the other characters leaving the kind of messages they usually leave.

* WebAnimation/HomestarRunner: In an episode of "Marzipan's Answering Machine", Homestar leaves an angry message breaking up with Marzipan because of something he thinks she said. When he realizes it was a misunderstanding, he leaves a second message in which he talks backwards thinking it will erase the message. Pom-Pom tells him that won't work, so he rushes over to replace her entire answering machine tape with a new tape of him doing bad impressions of all her friends instead. [[TheDitz Including a bad imitation of his own voice]].

* WebOriginal/HomestarRunner: In an episode of "Marzipan's Answering Machine", Homestar leaves an angry message breaking up with Marzipan because of something he thinks she said. When he realizes it was a misunderstanding, he leaves a second message in which he talks backwards thinking it will erase the message. Pom-Pom tells him that won't work, so he rushes over to replace her entire answering machine tape with a new tape of him doing bad impressions of all her friends instead. [[TheDitz Including a bad imitation of his own voice]].

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Doofenshmirtz plans to hover over his girlfriend's house with a huge magnet so he can erase embarrassing messages he left on her voicemail.

%%Examples are in alphabetical order. Please submit them appropriately%%

->'''Jones:''' People who leave voicemails?
->'''Kensi:''' Oh, God, no, I hate it. Write a text like everybody else.
--> -- "Can I Get A Witness?" ''Series/NCISLosAngeles''

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

-->'''Gigi:''' Hey, Conor, it's Gigi. I just thought, I hadn't heard from you... and how stupid is it that a gal has to wait for a guy's call anyway, right? Because we're all equal, right? More than equal. More women are accepted into law school now than men. And, I mean, I don't know if you saw that Dateline... but women practically have penises now, right? So... Call me. Oh, this is Gigi. Call me.

* ''Film/{{Swingers}}'': Mike calls back a girl he just met in a bar. He continuously fumbles on his words and has to keep re-dialling to leave new messages. While leaving the sixth message, she finally picks up.
-->'''Nikki:''' Mike?
-->'''Mike:''' Nikki! Great! Did you just walk in, or were you listening all along?
-->'''Nikki:''' Don't call me ever again.

[[folder:Live-Action TV ]]

* ''Series/{{Community}}'': In [[Recap/CommunityS1E16CommunicationStudies "Communication Studies"]], Britta leaves an embarrassing drunk dial message on Jeff's phone. Jeff tries to instill her confidence by getting drunk himself (in the hope of leaving ''her'' an equally embarrassing message). However, in his inebriated state, he calls Michelle instead. Jeff is terrified he offended Michelle and tries to avoid her, but the trope is subverted when it's revealed his voicemail was actually about how much he appreciated her.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': A comedic subversion of the trope. In [[Recap/FriendsS3E2TheOneWhereNoOnesReady "The One Where No One's Ready"]], Monica hears a voicemail from her ex Richard asking her to call him back but she can't tell if it's old or new. Monica breaks into his voicemail and hears a message she assumes to be from a new lover, but is really from his daughter Michelle; she only finds this out by failing to discreetly prank call her. In an attempt to clear everything up, she breaks into his voicemail one last time, erases all of the messages, and leaves a new one where she apologizes and asks for forgiveness, blaming her period for making her act crazy. Except she unintentionally re-records ''Richard's'' outgoing voicemail message, humiliating herself.
** 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.]]

** [[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS1E04ReturnOfTheShirt "Return of the Shirt"]] has Ted trying to reconcile with his ex-girlfriend Natalie. Initially bewildered on why she angrily hung up on him, he then realizes that he broke up with her over the phone, recorded on her answering machine, on her birthday, with her friends listening to it while they set up a surprise party for her. Lily calls Ted out over this immature method.
** In the episode [[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS2E11HowLilyStoleChristmas "How Lily Stole Christmas"]], Lily hears a voicemail from Marshall's answering machine where Ted calls her a "grinch" for breaking up with Marshall over the past summer. She feels insulted and takes down all the Christmas decorations.
* ''Series/JaneTheVirgin'': In [[Recap/JaneTheVirginS2E17ChapterThirtyNine "Chapter Thirty-Nine"]] Jane recruits her ex-stepsisters to steal a professor's phone and delete an angry voicemail her mother had left on it.

* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'': One scene in [[Recap/TheOfficeUSS3E21WomensAppreciation "Women's Appreciation"]] epitomises CringeComedy; Michael breaks up with Jan over voicemail, unaware that she is on her way to the office. When she comes in, Michael hangs up and pretends everything is fine. She tells him she wants to get back together, unaware of the voicemail. She sees she has a missed call from Michael and listens to it in front of him.

* ''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.

[[folder:WebVideo]]
* In his animated video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trfHP5LHVNY&t=432s "Joe Pera Talks You To Sleep"]], Pera discusses how he enjoys listening to voicemails from loved ones. He plays them to the audience, and they include messages from his father, his mother, and a friend. Finally, a message begins to play from a possible romantic interest.

** Joe immediately scrambles for the answering machine and shuts it off, sending it flying off the table.
* [[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.
-->'''Kevin:''' "Hi Kevin. This is Sandy from the Christian bookstore and your book ''Coming Out of Homosexuality'' has arrived and you can pick that up anytime." And everyone in the kitchen just sort of froze, 'cause we all knew if we made eye contact, we were going to have to talk about it, and no one wanted that.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* 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."

* ''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."
[[/folder]]

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 is usually results in the message-recorder being caught, and CringeComedy ensues. In this respect, there's a lot of cross-over with IrrevocableMessage.

In some cases, it's someone ''else's'' voicemail that causes the embarrassment. They could be about doctor's results, unpaid bills or messages from your loved ones. In a house full of other people, it's understanding why someone might want to delete those before anyone else listens to it.

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

* ''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.

* ''Film/BladesOfGlory'': Jeff tries to make it up to Jimmy by repeatedly leaving messages. Each voicemail he leaves is more desperate, until eventually he is practically grovelling for Jimmy's forgiveness.

** Mary is on the receiving end of one of these after she goes on a date with a guy who leaves her two. The first one is him singing a song with her name in it and asking for a follow up date. Cute. The second one is him singing the exact same song, this time using the name Jenny and ending with him realizing he accidentally called the wrong number. Yikes.
* ''Film/ILoveYouMan'': In the bromance comedy, Peter leaves voicemails for Sydney asking to hang out. However, his awkwardness and poor social skills makes it come across as pathetic.

--> '''Nikki:''' Mike?
--> '''Mike:''' Nikki! Great! Did you just walk in, or were you listening all along?
--> '''Nikki:''' Don't call me ever again.

** 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 episode [[Recap/HowIMetYourMotherS2E11HowLilyStoleChristmas "How Lily Stole Christmas"]], Lily hears a voicemail from Marshall's answering machine where Ted calls her a "grinch" for breaking up with Marshall over the past summer. She feels insulted insulted and takes down all the Christmas decorations.

* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': In the episode "Kaboom", Leslie tries to find out why Andy is suing by calling him. He doesn't answer, so she leaves a very awkward voicemail

* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'': Rebecca plays the spirit of the trope straight, if not the letter, when she accidentally sends a text intended for Paula (about her feelings for Josh) to Josh. Fortunately, she knows that he leaves his phone at home while he's at his martial arts practise, giving her time to break in and delete the message. [[SeriousBusiness Her entire office meeting agrees that this is the highest possible priority, and a judge gets her a police escort to Josh's building so that she can speed]], while the other lawyers sing a glam rock song about this "Textmergency".

* In his animated video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trfHP5LHVNY&t=432s "Joe Pera Talks You To Sleep"]], Pera discusses how he enjoys listening to voicemails from loved ones. He plays them to the audience, and they include messages from his father, his mother and a friend. Finally, a message begins to play from a possible romantic interest.
-->'''Alysse:''' Hey Joe it's Alysse. Um, it was nice going out with you again last night but, I've gotta be straight forward.

* [[https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinjamesthornton?lang=en Kevin James Thornton]] of [=TikTok=] fame shared a story about 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.
--> '''Kevin:''' "Hi Kevin. This is Sandy from the Christian bookstore and your book ''Coming Out of Homosexuality'' has arrived and you can pick that up anytime." And everyone in the kitchen just sort of froze, 'cause we all knew if we made eye contact, we were going to have to talk about it, and no one wanted that.

* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': Mordecai accidentally leaves a PocketDial message expressing his fondness of Margaret. After he realises, he and Rigby must find Margaret's phone to delete it before she listens to it.
* ''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 machine before the rest of the family, and replaces the tape with the ''Creator/AllanSherman'' single "Hello Muddah, Hello Fuddah."

-->'''Alysse:''' Hey Joe it's Alysse. Um, it was nice going out with you again last
--> night but, I've gotta be straight forward.

--> "''Hi Kevin. This is Sandy from the Christian bookstore and your book'' Coming Out
--> of Homosexuality ''has arrived and you can pick that up anytime.''"
--> '''Kevin:''' And everyone in the kitchen just sort of froze, 'cause we all knew if
--> we made eye contact, we were going to have to talk about it, and no one wanted that.

[[folder:Anime/Manga]]

[[folder:Film--Animated]]

[[folder:LiveAction--Film]]

[[folder:LiveAction--TVSeries]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'': Rebecca plays the spirit of the trope straight, if not the letter, when she accidentally sends a text intended for Paula (about her feelings for Josh) to Josh. Fortunately, she knows that he leaves his phone at home while he's at his martial arts practise, giving her time to break in and delete the message. [[SeriousBusiness Her entire office meeting agrees that this is the highest possible priority, and a judge gets her a police escort to Josh's building so that she can speed]].

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'': In the aptly named episode "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.

* [[https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinjamesthornton?lang=en Kevin James Thornton]] of TikTok fame shared a story about 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.

[[folder:WebComics]]

* The ''Series/Kenan&Kel'' episode "Dial O for Oops" revolves around the titular duo repeating all the insulting things Kenan's father said about his boss, only to realize everything they just said was recorded onto said boss's answering machine (Kenan had been trying to call the boss's daughter to ask her out on a date, only to get a voicemail). Hilarity ensues when the pair try to sneak into the boss's house to erase the tape before it gets heard and Kenan's father potentially loses his job.

->Jones: ''People who leave voicemails?''
->Kensi: ''Oh, God, no, I hate it. Write a text like everybody else.''
-> - "Can I Get A Witness?" ''Series/NCISLosAngeles''

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 Main/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 Main/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 is usually results in the message-recorder being caught, and Main/CringeComedy ensues. In this respect, there's a lot of cross-over with Main/IrrevocableMessage.

Other uses of the trope is when someone leaves an embarrassing voicemail, but is so unaware that they make no effort to amend it. They could be the typical Main/FoolForLove who desperately asks someone out on the phone. In general, the person is so uncomfortable with sharing their feelings to the person that they'd rather do it over the phone and avoid the physical interactions.

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

Compare with Main/WhatDidIDoLastNight, Main/LoveLetterLunacy.

* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': Mordecai accidentally leaves a Main/PocketDial message expressing his fondness of Margaret. After he realises, he and Rigby must find Margaret's phone to delete it before she listens to it.