diff --git a/zeppelin-interpreter/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/interpreter/InterpreterUtils.java b/zeppelin-interpreter/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/interpreter/InterpreterUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c3d3b9e1a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zeppelin-interpreter/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/interpreter/InterpreterUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.zeppelin.interpreter;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+
+/**
+ * Interpreter utility functions
+ */
+public class InterpreterUtils {
+
+  public static String getMostRelevantMessage(Exception ex) {
+    if (ex instanceof InvocationTargetException) {
+      Throwable cause = ((InvocationTargetException) ex).getCause();
+      if (cause != null) {
+        return cause.getMessage();
+      }
+    }
+    return ex.getMessage();
+  }
+}