By Ellie Glason
Our latest piece of research for Perspectus Global examined the great British institution of the Knock Knock joke.
Although famous worldwide for our sophisticated sense of humour, Knock Knock jokes have been with us from the time of Shakespeare – first appearing as a to and fro in Macbeth.
And in the 1930s these were the height of fashion, being enjoyed as a parlour game by high society across the country.
Even though they were more likely to make us groan than cackle, the format is well woven into our comedy landscape – and we wanted to find out if new vehicles and formulas for jokes had changed this in any way.
And this piece of news gen had a formula itself – look at something that was culturally significant and gauge whether this is still the case.
The findings – covered by over 17 outlets including Mail Online, the Telegraph, the Metro and Today’s Radio 4 news show – were shocking.
It seems that the Knock Knock joke will soon be consigned to the history joke books, as a FIFTH of under 30s Brits had never heard or told one.
Instead, modern Brits are making themselves lol with memes, funny videos and running joke hashtags.
And when someone cries ‘Knock knock’ – the most common response is bewilderment.