History Main / FunnyAnsweringMachine

** Paige has also done this on occasion, usually when she's trying to get a dance for whatever upcoming social event is happening.

-->'''Answering Machine:''' You've reached the desk of Sgt. Wes Luger. Please leave a message after the beep.
-->'''Billy:''' Yeah, Wes? It's me, Billy.
-->'''Answering Machine:''' Hey! I said after the beep!

* On ''[[Series/{{Alice1976}} Alice]],'' Alice gets an answering machine and someone makes a death threat against her on it.

* To promote ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' season two, Marvel Studios posted [[https://twitter.com/JessicaJones/status/688775449359421440 the name and phone number]] of Jessica's detective agency online. People who dialed the number would hear this greeting, recorded in-character by star Creator/KrystenRitter:

-->'''Larry’s Message''': Hi, this Lawrence H., I’m not here. Why is your tired ass calling me, anyway? Oh, well! Leave a message, and it best not be shady! Thanks, girl!

-->'''Kitty:''' You've reached agent Kitty Katswell. ''(smashing sound)'' Dudley, you broke my lamp! I'm recording my message! Be quiet!
-->'''Dudley:''' The Chief did it!
-->'''Chief:''' I did not!
-->'''Kitty:''' Just leave a message at the beep.

* Vincent Martella has gone on record as having recorded his family's answering machine message in character as [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb Phineas Flynn]], which has caused several sound only [[DoubleTake Double Takes]].

* On WWE Raw, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels doesn't show up one night, so Wrestling/TripleH decides to call his cell phone and ends up getting his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp-jLUKCBS0 voicemail]]. HilarityEnsues.

* Website/NobodyHere: "[[https://nobodyhere.com/justme/answer.here Answer]]" has the author pretend that the other person got the number wrong in the voicemail message.

* The dub of Anime/YuGiOhSevens turns Yuga’s invention, the “Crank Call-inator” into one of these.

When a character lives in a modern setting, how do you show the audience or reader how quirky he or she is? Make that character an entertaining answering machine [[note]] [[TechnologyMarchesOn For those not familiar with them]], they were devices that connected to a landline phone, and recorded a message for you if you weren't home, either digitally or on tape, depending on the time period. And they could be used to screen calls in the days before Caller ID. They've largely been replaced with voicemail. [[/note]] or voicemail message for callers to hear! They're also good for showing the audience a hint of the character's personality. Compare VoicemailConfusion, FunnyPhoneMisunderstanding.

'''Marzipan:''' Hi guys! Leave me a message, and I'll leave you with an [[MindScrew abstract thought]]. Is a [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguin]] a bird or a duck?

-->YO YO YO 1-4-8 3 TO THE 3 TO THE 6 TO THE 9, REPRESENTIN' THE ABQ, WADDUP, BI-ATCH?! Leave it at the tone.

* Wiki/SCPFoundation: [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-361 SCP-361]] is an Etruscan artifact resembling a divining liver. If you put an actual sheep liver on it you get the following message:

* At the start of ''WebVideo/Kickassia,'' That Chick with the Goggles has a TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat-style outgoing message that tricks The Nostalgia Critic into having a conversation with it. An unrelated video on the site years later reveals that's ''still'' her outgoing message.

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'' 's voicemail reminds the audience that this is not Temperance Brennan, but a recording of her.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' involves Sam's message, which sounds like him answering the phone, then a long pause, followed by "Just kidding. You got my machine." Diane calls Sam before her wedding to Frasier, hoping Sam is on a plane on his way to stop the wedding. When she thinks he has answered, she hangs up in disgust without hearing the rest, and thus doesn't know that Sam ''is'' on his way.

* If Joey and Chandler's answering machine in ''Series/{{Friends}}'' isn't enough ("Here comes the beep, you know what to do" - since it doesn't say who it is, allowed Chandler to date a woman who called the wrong number), Ross attempted one that made the duo groan ("[[Music/{{Queen}} * stomp, stomp, clap!* We will, we will, call you back!]]").
** When Rachel and Phoebe were sharing an apartment, they made a couple of attempts to record a message with alternating words. Somehow, Rachel kept ending up with the "good" words.

* ComicBook/TheJoker has one in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. Naturally, it's also disturbing ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQqstqo4Sw Watch here]]).

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', during TheStinger of the episode 'Dipper vs. Manliness', where Grunkle Stan keeps receiving obsessive voicemails from a local diner waitress who keeps calling to say hello and [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrazyCatLady getting her cats to do the same]], much to Stan's horror.

* One early ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strip has him leaving a girl a message asking her out on a date. Her answering machine says "If you're calling to take me to Paris, press one. If you're offering to take me to a crappy movie, press 2."