# What's the origin of the Knock Knock joke?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-knock-knock-joke/134895>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 1, 2002, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-knock-knock-joke/134895 "2002-11-01T21:19:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-knock-knock-joke/134895/1 "2002-11-01T21:19:00Z")

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[sub]I have searched Google and the archives but couldn’t find anything…[/sub]

How far back does the knock knock joke go? Is it an American invention? Is there an early recorded joke in written material? Can it be traced to a specific source - maybe an old radio program or something? What’s the most famous one?

I’ve got questions, you hear? Questions!!! 😃

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**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-knock-knock-joke/134895/2 "2002-11-01T23:50:33Z")

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I can’t give you any oirigin but I can tell you that they were alive and well in the early thirties. I would hazard a guess that they were as part of a comedy routine a la Abbott and Costello.

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**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-knock-knock-joke/134895/3 "2002-11-01T23:56:47Z")

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Go to Dogplie-----“bang in” knock knock jokes"-------go crazy!

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-knock-knock-joke/134895/4 "2002-11-02T01:45:31Z")

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**Ezstrete** - go where? Will that tell me what the origins are?

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-knock-knock-joke/134895/5 "2002-11-02T03:12:24Z")

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[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78955&highlight=knock+knock+joke](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78955&highlight=knock+knock+joke)

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**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-knock-knock-joke/134895/6 "2002-11-02T04:06:12Z")

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Sorry-------that should have read dogpile.

There’s a lot of stuff under “Knock knock” there

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-origin-of-the-knock-knock-joke/134895/7 "2002-11-04T21:33:52Z")

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Son of a…

Thanks **samclem** - I’m not sure why I didn’t find that one…

Thank you as well **Ezstrete**.