knock-knock-2
Explanation
The Joke
A person stands outside a door saying "Knock knock!" in the classic setup for a knock-knock joke. Inside, a woman hears the knocking but instead of responding with "Who's there?" (as the joke format requires), she stands anxiously with her hands over her mouth, thinking "..." and then whispering to herself, "Maybe if I turn on the shower he'll hear it and go away." The caption reads: "Social anxiety has devastated the knock knock joke format."
The comic takes the familiar knock-knock joke structure and applies it to modern social anxiety. The entire knock-knock joke format depends on the person inside willingly engaging by asking "Who's there?" -- but a person with social anxiety would never voluntarily open a conversation with a stranger at the door. Instead, she employs the classic avoidance tactic of pretending not to be home.
The Humor
The humor comes from the collision between a lighthearted, universally known joke format and the very real phenomenon of social anxiety. Knock-knock jokes assume a cooperative, socially willing participant on the other side of the door, but Weinersmith points out that in an era where many people dread unplanned social interactions, the joke literally cannot function. The woman's plan to run the shower so the visitor thinks she is unavailable is a painfully relatable detail for anyone who has ever hidden from an unexpected doorbell ring.