Editing Knock-knock joke (section)

==History==
A possible source of the joke is [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth]]''; first performed in 1606. In Act 2, Scene 3, the porter is very hungover from the previous night. During his monologue, he uses "Knock, knock! Who's there" as a refrain while he is speaking:

{{block indent |<poem>
Knock, knock! Who's there, i' the name of
Beelzebub? Here's a farmer, that hanged
himself on the expectation of plenty: come in
time; have napkins enow about you; here
you'll sweat for't.

Knock, knock! Who's there, in the other devil's
name? Faith, here's an equivocator, that could
swear in both the scales against either scale;
who committed treason enough for God's sake,
yet could not equivocate to heaven: O, come
in, equivocator.
</poem>}}

Writing in the ''[[Oakland Tribune]]'', Merely McEvoy recalled a style of joke from around 1900 where a person would ask a question such as "Do you know Arthur?", the unsuspecting listener responding with "Arthur who?" and the joke teller answering "{{define|Arthurmometer|A thermometer}}!"<ref name="npr"/>

A variation of the format in the form of a children's game was described in 1929.<ref name="Bett1929">{{cite book|author=Henry Bett|title=The games of children: their origin and history|year=1929|publisher=Singing Tree Press|page=87}}</ref> In the game of Buff, a child with a stick thumps it on the ground, and the dialogue ensues:

{{block indent |<poem>
Knock, knock!
Who's there?
Buff.
What says Buff?
Buff says Buff to all his men, And I say Buff to you again.
</poem>}}

In 1936, [[Bob Dunn (cartoonist)|Bob Dunn]] authored the book ''Knock Knock: Featuring Enoch Knox'', and he is regarded by some as having invented the modern knock-knock joke.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Horn |first1=Maurice |title=The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons |year=1999 |publisher=Chelsea House |isbn=978-0-7910-4855-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iopRAQAACAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

In 1936, the standard knock-knock joke format was used in a newspaper advertisement.<ref>[http://rolfe.advantage-preservation.com/Viewer/?key=%22knock%20knock%22&pt=1563&fn=the_rolfe_arrow_usa_iowa_rolfe_19360910_english_5&page=1&serppageno=1 "Hee Haw News"] p. 4. Rolfe Arrow. (Rolfe, Iowa). 10 September 1936.</ref> That joke was:

{{block indent |<poem>
Knock, knock!
Who's there?
Rufus.
Rufus who?
{{define|Rufus|Roof is}} the most important part of your house.
</poem>}}

A 1936 [[Associated Press]] newspaper article said that "What's This?" had given way to "Knock Knock!" as a favorite parlor game.<ref>"'Knock Knock' Latest Nutsy Game For Parlor Amusement." P. 1.3 August 1936. Titusville Herald (Pennsylvania). Byline 2 August. New York.</ref>  The article also said that "knock knock" seemed to be an outgrowth of making up sentences with difficult words, an old parlor favorite. A popular joke of 1936 (the year of [[Edward VIII]]'s brief reign) was "Knock knock. Who's there? Edward Rex. Edward Rex who? {{define|Edward Rex|Edward wrecks}} the Coronation."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8100378/Wallis-Simpson-not-good-looking.html|title=Wallis Simpson 'not good looking'|date=1 November 2010|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=7 November 2015}}</ref> [[Fred Allen]]'s 30 December 1936 radio broadcast included a humorous wrapup of the year's least important events, including a supposed interview with the man who "invented a negative craze" on 1 April: "Ramrod Dank... the first man to coin a Knock Knock."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=Fred|author-link1=Fred Allen|last2=Hample|first2=Stuart|author-link2=Stuart Hample|title=All the Sincerity in Hollywood--: Selections from the Writings of Radio's Legendary Comedian Fred Allen|year=2001|publisher=Fulcrum Pub.|isbn=978-1-55591-154-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/allsincerityinho00alle/page/3 3]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/allsincerityinho00alle/page/3}}</ref>