Knocking on Laughter’s Door
A: “Knock, knock.”
B: “Who’s there?”
A: “Lettuce.”
B: “Lettuce who?”
A: “Lettuce in, it’s cold out here.”
Jeff Bezos, founder, and CEO of Amazon, laughs as he speaks during the Economic Club of Washington’s Milestone Celebration event in Washington, DC. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo credit SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
“Knock knock” jokes are traditional jokes that use word sounds to create the punchline. They involve questions that always follow the same order. Their origin isn’t confirmed, but many experts believe William Shakespeare invented this form of a joke in 1606, in Macbeth : in Act 2, Scene 3, a porter is awoken by a man knocking at Macbeth’s door. Macbeth asks, “Who’s there?”, which is left unknown. Despite this, it didn’t become a widely used joke format until much later – specifically, 1930s America, during Prohibition. According to historian Charlie Orr, speakeasy patrons would have fun with the password custom where they would knock on the door, and the owner would ask “Who’s there?”. As the night wore on and the patrons consumed an increasing amount of alcohol, the answers would become sillier and funnier, thus turning this type of exchange into a format for a joke. This was confirmed by Variety magazine in 1936 when it was reported that a “knock-knock craze” was sweeping the US. Today, they are still considered one of the most basic forms of jokes.