Answering machines used to be all the rage on sitcoms

Mel Magazine

From Friends to Seinfeld to The Office, the answering machine was once the center of the comedy universe. "There was something about sitcoms and answering machines that provided for more than just jokes — they also provided stories," says Brian VanHooker. "Sitcoms — particularly multi-camera sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s — often thrived on small stakes made big. Simple, everyday occurrences were blown up for comedic purposes, and entire plotlines would be about next to nothing." As former Seinfeld writer David Mandel put it: “They were so culturally huge that you couldn’t not do stories about it.”