Daily Times

Knock knock? Who’s there? It’s Mirror Online. We’re here to tell you about where one of the most famous joke constructs comes from.

You’ve probably told one. You’ve near definitely heard one. Either by a slightly drunk uncle, or on Saturday night television. But where does the joke actually come from?

The origins aren’t confirmed, but most experts believe the joke comes from William Shakespeare. The Bard conjured up many famous phrases, sayings, insults, and jokes. Knock knock is said to be one of them.

The wording is a little different in “Macbeth”, where the joke first appeared, in 1606. It comes about just after Macbeth murders a man called Duncan.

In Act 2, Scene 3, a porter is awoken out of a drunken stupor by a man knocking at Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s door. Macbeth asks “who’s there?”, and, in 2017, we’re all still wondering.

Although the first ‘knock knock’ came about in 1606, it didn’t become a widely used joke until much later.

Literary site enotes explains, “On August 19, 1936, the entertainment industry trade magazine Variety reported that a ‘Knock Knock craze’ was sweeping America. A few months later, on the evening of November 14, a radio performer named Wee Georgie Wood set England afire with ‘Knock Knock’ jokes.”