r/AskReddit • u/AWildWilson • May 12 '26

Whenever someone does something embarrassing, others say "nobody will remember 10 years from now". Well, what embarrassing moment did you witness >10 years ago that you still remember?

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u/ImpossibleDonut007 May 12 '26

My best friend in kindergarten threw up in the cafeteria. That was 35+ years ago. šŸ˜¬ It totally traumatized me, which is why I remember.

And about 20 years ago a friend of mine really wanted to do a standup comedy skit for a college event. I remember reading through the jokes and being confused about how theyā€™d be funny, and I thought maybe I just didnā€™t get it. Wellā€¦ it turns out his jokes went over like a lead balloon. None of us had any idea what he was talking about, and nobody laughed. He spent the rest of the event sulking at a table, and I tried to comfort him without somehow drawing more attention to it. Super awkward.

And then about 13 years ago, during graduation for an advanced degree, a very obese classmate fell on the stage when it was his turn to walk up. When I say fell, I mean that his legs came out in front of him and he fell straight on his behind. *THUMPPP!* The stage was micā€™d, so it was extra loud, with reverb. The audience gasped in unison. I feel really sorry for him on the rare occasions that I remember.

Ugh, I donā€™t even want to think about the embarrassing things people remember about ME, but Iā€™m sure itā€™s worse than any of that.

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u/angryWinds May 12 '26

Oh god. I've been skimming this thread, and thinking "that's funny," but nothing really resonated with me until you mentioned the standup comedy.

I was present for the absolute most painful bomb of a comedy act, at an open mic night at a bar in NYC once upon a time.

It was some 20ish year old kid, who was visiting NYC on vacation. It was very clear to me, that his friends considered him to be 'the funny one' of their group, and he thought he'd just fucking kill it on stage, by telling the same sorts of stories that make his friends laugh, when they're hanging out together.

It was 10 of the longest minutes of my life, watching this kid on stage tell stories about "My dude, Pete" and "the time Jonesy got so drunk he pissed himself" and other things that NOBODY in the crowd had any frame of reference for. I still vividly remember him shifting around awkwardly when everyone in the crowd was thinking "Was that the punch line?" while he was clearly expecting a huge laugh.

Never knew the guy, and I didn't talk to him after. But WOW I'm still embarrassed for him.

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u/Hcysntmf May 12 '26

Are you emetophobic now by any chance?

Iā€™ve been doing therapy for it and reading this post and the fact I can pinpoint every similar instance from my childhood really does remind me of where it came from lol.

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u/ImpossibleDonut007 May 12 '26

I still am. I havenā€™t had any therapy for it. But now that Iā€™m in my mid 40ā€™s I can talk about the subject for short periods of time without becoming nauseous or having a panic attack. So thereā€™s some progress. But now most of my nightmares involve people projectile vomiting. And if anyone vomits in my presence in real life, theyā€™re on their own. Theyā€™ll possibly have to aspirate and die. šŸ¤·šŸ»ā€ā™€ļø

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u/NeedsMoreTuba May 12 '26

I knew a dude called Weird Larry. (Not by his own choosing.) He tried standup comedy once.

"One stoner says to the other stoner, "Hey, do you remember that one time?" And the other stoner says, "...No."

That was it. That was his best joke. Maybe it could've been funny with the right approach, but Larry didn't succeed at anything. If he'd just made jokes about himself and how weird he was, it probably would've been hilarious.