don't knock it

the newest craze in the mann house is the knock-knock joke. liam got a book of them for his birthday and enjoys reading them to anyone who will listen. of course, most of the humor he doesn't quite understand yet, but he laughs anyway, which in turn sends susanna into hysterics. you'd think jerry seinfeld had entered the building. so chris decided to teach them a knock-knock joke that they would understand. the classic banana/orange one -- you know it. "knock knock." "who's there?" "banana." (repeat 3-4 times until you about drive the other person crazy.) and then, "orange." "orange who?" "orange you glad i didn't say banana?" they actually got the humor this time. it was a huge hit. but one that was seemingly forgotten, as they advanced into a new stage of creating their own punchlines in the middle of supper last night. "who's there?" "ketchup." "ketchup who?" "ketchup bottle!" (peals of laughter ensue.) ... "cheese." "cheese who?" "cheese and crackers!" (now they're crying from laughing so hard.) ... "door." "door who?" "DOOR KNOB!" (they can hardly breathe.) and so it goes. from this wonderfully calm exchange at the dinner table, i felt we had regressed a bit a lot in the art of telling a knock-knock joke. there was no true humor involved ... until susanna and i were in the checkout aisle at the grocery this morning. as i was signing the credit card receipt, she was a few feet away from me in the cart, staring at a nice woman right behind us in line. out of the blue, susanna gives it a shot. "knock knock," she says sweetly. the woman gamely plays along. "who's there?" "orange." "orange who?" "orange you glad i didn't say door knob?" the woman gave out a genuine laugh. not at the joke, of course, but at this chubby 2 1/2 year old joke teller, her delivery, and the completely out-of-context punchline that made no sense. but no matter the reason behind the laugh, a laugh is what susanna was going for. and a comedienne is born.