Knock-knock jokes are like carbohydrates, making up a sizeable part of any kid’s joke diet. You can’t have a joke-telling session with someone under the age of twelve without hearing at least one or two. But we often hear the same knock-knock jokes again and again, such as the interrupting cow, boo-who, and other classics.
My book, You’re Joking: Create your own Knock-Knock Jokes, is a step-by-step guide to crafting your own hilarious knockers. It covers all the different kinds of knock-knock jokes, breaking them down one-by-one, giving you examples and exercises to hone your skills.
Here’s how to create your own classic knock-knock jokes to test out on your friends:

Classic Knock-Knock Jokes
Classic knock-knock jokes always use a person’s name as the setup. Like this one:

The only part of a classic knock-knock joke that changes is the name (the setup) and the last line (the punchline). And the punchline is what makes the joke funny. But how do you create your own knock-out punchlines?

Good classic knock-knock punchlines should:

1. Use the name towards the beginning of the sentence
2. Use the setup in an unexpected way
3. Refer to the door-knocking scenario or knock-knock jokes themselves

Here are three classic knock-knock jokes where the punchline does all of the above:

Knock, knock…
Who’s there?
Anita…
Anita who?
Anita use your bathroom!

Knock, knock…
Who’s there?
Ivan…
Ivan who?
Ivanother knock-knock joke for you…

Knock, knock…
Who’s there?
Mikey…
Mikey who?
Mikey is stuck in the door. Can you help me get it out?

To come up with your own classic knock-knock jokes, you first need to select a name. The best names to choose are ones that sounds a bit like other words, such as Sam, Eva or Don.
When you’ve chosen a name, brainstorm as many soundalike words as you can, like this:

We now need to turn these words into punchlines, preferably with the soundalike word at the beginning of the sentence:

1. Same person who always knocks on your door.
2. Some people look to see who it is!
3. Sometimes I forget my own name.
4. Sandwich, please! I’m starving.

Once we’re done, we choose our favourite punchline and we’ve created our very own classic knock-knock joke:

Knock, knock…
Who’s there?
Sam…
Sam who?
Sam people look to see who it is!

Now it’s your turn. Use the name Eva to create your own classic knock-knock joke.

Eva

Come up with four punchline sentences that begin with your soundalike words:

1. ____________
2. ____________
3. ____________
4. ____________

Finally, choose your favourite punchline and put it into the template below:

Knock, knock,
Who’s there?
___________.
___________ who?
_______________________________________________________.

And that’s it. You’ve just created your own classic knock-knock joke. Congratulations!

Here are some other names that work well for knock-knock jokes:

Ken
Noah
Annie

To become a knock-knock ninja and create hundreds of your own jokes, check out my book – You’re Joking: Create your own Knock-Knock Jokes.

In the meantime, here are ten of my favourite Knock-Knock jokes: