Knock-knock joke

A knock-knock joke is a type of joke told in the form of a conversation between a person knocking on a door and the person answering it. It always starts with the phrase "Knock, knock!" followed by the question "Who's there?" and ends with a punch line which usually has a pun or some other kind of word play.

The basic format is as follows:

Joke-Teller: "Knock Knock!"

Joke-Hearer: "Who's there?"

Teller: "[a word or phrase]"

Hearer: "[the word or phrase the Teller said] who?"

Teller: "[the punch line]"

Knock-knock jokes come from "do you know?" jokes in the 1900s and became very popular in the 1930s.[1]

Example

There are many knock-knock jokes you can make. For example:

Rocco: "Knock Knock!"

Renzo: "Who's there?"

Teller: "New Year!"

Hearer: "New Year who?"

Teller: "New Year let me out; I want to watch fireworks."

"Knock knock" was the catchphrase of music hall performer Wee Georgie Wood, who was recorded in 1936 saying it in a radio play, but he simply used the words as a reference to his surname and did not use it as part of the well-known joke formula. The format was well known in the UK and US in the 1950s and 1960s before falling out of favor.

References
  1. "The Secret History Of Knock-Knock Jokes". NPR.org. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
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