By the time the door made its Cheeky Weekly debut in the 2nd issue of the toothy funster's comic (dated 29 October 1977), the entertaining entryway was already a veteran of Krazy comic, having to that date appeared in 47 editions of the title that spawned the Cheeky phenomenon.
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| Cheeky shares his inaugural joke with the Knock-Knock Door in the debut 'Ello, It's Cheeky strip in the first issue of Krazy Art: Frank McDiarmid |
In its first two Krazy appearances, Knock-Knock Door was situated as one would expect a door to be - within a wall - and the words 'The Door' were painted on the brickwork above it, but as of Krazy dated 30 October 1976 the door was seen propelling itself around Krazy Town on a pair of castors (as Peter Gray points out in his comment on this post, it appears Big Strong Sam\Steve was responsible for liberating the door from its brick surround), initially with 'The Door' painted on the door itself. A notice reading 'Please knock knock' was affixed to the door until Krazy's 27 November 1976 issue, and the words 'The Door' ceased to appear as of the 18 December 1976 comic. However both signs returned for a single time in Krazy's 12 February 1977 edition, and on two later occasions when Krazy covermeister Mike Lacey drew the door as the 'Ello, It's Cheeky strip made it onto the front page, Mike included the words 'The Door'.
Knock-Knock Door's origin was revealed
in the Cheeky's Pal strip in Krazy's 30 July 1977 issue.
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid |
Knock-Knock Door was honoured with a second Cheeky's Pal appearance in Krazy dated 22 October 1977 (the same week in which Cheeky Weekly made its debut), but on that occasion the page consisted of a selection of knock-knock gags.
Here's the first Cheeky Weekly appearance of Knock-Knock Door, in the second issue...
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid |
The Cheeky's Week scriptwriter clearly wasn't short of knock-knock jokes as the door appeared in 110 issues of the toothy funster's comic (although it has to be admitted that gags with the punchline 'Doorchester' were used on several occasions). Not only were there plenty of knock-knock jokes, but Cheeky would usually deliver a door-based pun when the castor-propelled portal rolled into view.
In Cheeky Weekly dated 17 December
1977, Knock-Knock Door was somewhat incongruously present during the cinema interval, and in that year's Christmas issue Cheeky's wooden pal appeared with a shiny new nameplate bearing the words 'Knock-Knock Door', but the plate was never seen again.
A copy of the Mystery Comic was lodged
in the door's letterbox on Friday in the 21 January 1978 edition, and the knock-knock gag in the 29 April
1978 issue...
Knock-Knock!
Who's there?
Hey, man!
Hey, man who?
Hey, man Andrews!
...was contributed by reader Michael
(Banjo) Bange of Dundee, whose punchline was a reference to TV
presenter Eamonn Andrews, best known at the time for his work on long-running
biographically-based show This Is Your Life.
In the comic dated 05 August 1978 Teacher, who was suffering from some sort of mania for the duration of that edition, delivered a knock-knock gag much to Cheeky's annoyance,
although order was restored when the toothy funster was able to complete a
joke with the door the following day.
An aged Cheeky encountered a somewhat
dilapidated door in 19 August 1978's 60-years-into-the-future issue,
wherein our grinning chum and his portal pal were shown to be
suffering similar symptoms of the advancing years.
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid |
The knock-knock joke in Cheeky Weekly
dated 02 September 1978 introduced Cheeky's pal Ding-Dong Debbie, and
in the 09 September 1978 Smurf issue the door had a keyhole convocation with
the small cerulean songsters. The strip makes reference to a line in The Smurf Song which rather puzzled me at the time because I misheard 'small keyhole' as 'smoky hole'.
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid |
The door was first elevated to cover co-star status on the front of the comic dated 14 October 1978, and returned to page one in the 18 November 1978, 27 January 1979 and 12 May 1979 issues.
Knock-Knock Door was the source of The Mystery
Comic for a second time in Cheeky Weekly dated 24 February 1979, and
in the 31 March 1979 'Jersey' issue Knock-Knock Door was seen
sporting a facsimile of the toothy funster's jumper.
In the 08 September 1979 comic Six-Gun Sam delivered the knock-knock joke and in the following week's comic
Cheeky allowed Granny Gumdrop, Yikky-Boo, Dan-Dan the Lavender Man
and Teacher to do gags with the door. In the Christmas 1979 issue it
was Cheeky's Dad's turn to do the knock-knock joke, and in the
following week's issue Knock-Knock Door was seen among the guests at
Cheeky's new year party.
Cheeky's Cut-Out Comedy Catalogue of
Knock-Knock Door Jokes appeared in the 17 November 1979 edition.
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| The final Cheeky Weekly appearance of Knock-Knock Door in the last issue of the toothy funster's title, 02 February 1980 Art: Frank McDiarmid |
| Character | Total Issues | First Appearance | Final Appearance |
| Knock-Knock Door | 110 | 29-Oct-1977 | 02-Feb-1980 |
| Missing From Issues |
| 22-Oct-1977 |
| 12-Nov-1977 |
| 10-Dec-1977 |
| 01-Jul-1978 |
| 02-Dec-1978 |
| 03-Mar-1979 |
| 25-Aug-1979 |
Count of elements by artist
| Character | Artist | Total Elements |
| Knock-Knock Door | Frank McDiarmid | 61 |
| Knock-Knock Door | Frank McDiarmid pencils | 21 |
| Knock-Knock Door | Mike Lacey | 18 |
| Knock-Knock Door | Barrie Appleby | 7 |
| Knock-Knock Door | Dick Millington | 5 |
| Knock-Knock Door | Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 | 3 |
| Knock-Knock Door | Jim Watson | 1 |
| Knock-Knock Door | Not known | 1 |
knock knock
ReplyDeletewho there
Doctor
Doctor... who?
The knock knock door must of appeared in whoopee later on?
Yes, the door appeared in Whoopee!, but at the moment I'm trying to keep focused on Cheeky Weekly, with a few excursions into Krazy for background info.
DeleteKnock Knock
Who's there?
Amelia
Amelia who?
Amelia ordered from the takeaway is at the front door