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Amy's Answering Machine
A Collection of Irritatingly Funny Messages from Mom
 Listen to Bob Edwards' report.
 Listen to messages from Amy's Answering Machine.
May 10, 2002 -- Standup comic Amy Borkowsky says she really loves her mom. But it's easy to see why her love might be tested. Let's just say her mother is a little... overprotective.
For years, Borkowsky, an adult, thirty-something former New York advertising executive, has been receiving messages like this one on her answering machine: "Amila, I hope you're on your way home. I just heard on the weather there's a big storm headed for New York. On the weather map, they have snowflakes the size of bagels. So if you have to go out, wrap a scarf around your face to protect it because you know there's that man who climbed Mt. Everest and lost his entire nose..."
Or this one: "Hi, Amila. I just was watching the news and I heard about that little girl who was alone in an apartment for nine days without food. Honey, please be sure you have what to eat in the fridge cuz last time you came to visit you looked like Olive Oyl..."
Borkowsky has been collecting the messages for more than a decade and she decided to compile them into a CD and book titled Amy's Answering Machine. She got the idea for the project after playing some of the tapes on stage during her stand-up comedy act a few years ago. The audiences loved the messages.
"Other people seem to get a kick out of her," Borkowsky tells Morning Edition host Bob Edwards. "I think it's always easier to laugh at somebody else's mother. Now I'm torn because this has not been bad for my career."
In Depth
 Amy's Answering Machine: More Messages
Portrait of An Artist as An Answering Machine
Listen as NPR's Neva Grant chaperones two phone-automated voices on a "date."
Listen to an All Things Considered commentary, 'Sorry, Wrong Number'.
Other Resources
• Amy's Answering Machine
• The history of answering machines
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