Informant:

Maximilian Gardner, 14, is a freshman in high school, and considers himself “Caucasian.”  He plays football and basketball at his high school.  Max learned the following knock-knock joke from one of his teammates on the football team and then performed it with the basketball team after practice.

Text:

Max: Hey, you wanna hear a knock-knock joke?

Teammate: Sure.

Max: Ok.  Say knock-knock.

Teammate: Knock-knock.

Max: Who’s there?

Friend: …

Analysis:

This knock-knock joke reverses the traditional convention of knock-knock jokes by inverting the sequence of events.  By having the listener start with “Knock-knock,” he tricks them into taking on the role of the performer.  Thus, when Max responds “Who’s there?” they are left without an answer and the joke is on them.