Shakespeare's knock knock joke.

[graemer]

I recently read that either Macbeth or Othello (can't remember which) features the first recorded knock knock joke. Does anyone know what it is?

[woofgang]

Its Macbeth, here

[jno]

of course, knock knock jokes were only at the beta testing stage then, so it's not as funny as his 'how many playwrights does it take to change a lightbulb' jokes.

[graemer]

Thanks woof. You're right jno I was hoping for something like Knock Knock who's there? Duncan. Duncan who? etc

[jno]

Duncan Donuts...

[Peter Pedant]

No its more interesting than that !

I assume that the link is to the porter's speech in erm....Act1 Scene 2 or thereabouts - early.

The speech is in prose and not blank verse - this indicates apparently that the Porter can ad lib - in one London production  - he would drag in references Tommy Steele - who would obviously not be known to Elizabthan audiences.

The other thing is - the reference to equivocation, Macbeth was written for the accession of james VI and I and there was a roman catholic witch-hunt on for Jesuits. An early interrogation tecnic was to apply an oath to the papist suspect traitor and then say is there a jesuit lving with you? Under oath he would have to tell the truth or burn in Hell (honestly I am not joking)

So the Js said it was moral and therefore lawful for you to say - No there is no jesuit in my house with the intention of saying yes there is a jesuit   (!!) No I am not joking - and da daaaaah here is a contemporary reference to it which aids also in dating it.

So there is more to this sixteenth century knock knock joke huh?

[graemer]

Thank you Peter, most scholarly and informative.

[kev100]

It's lucky for Will that he didn't do stand up comedy