History Main / KnockingOnHeathensDoor

OK, here's a test. Go and find every mainstream film that you can that has a scene with a character who is recognisably a Jehovah's Witness. Use these to learn five key facts about Jehovah's Witnesses. You will most likely find that they:

* On the first episode of ''MockTheWeek'''s seventh season, they commented on Michael Jackson's death [[CrossesTheLineTwice in their usual style]]. They noted that being a Jehovah's Witness was possibly the least weird thing about him and pondered whether when he went to meetings if ''they'' pretended to not be in.

** Inverted on a Halloween episode [[hottip:*:The one with The Village People cameoing as themselves and Katey Sagal playing a dual role as The Grim Reaper]] where Peggy tells Bud and Kelly that they're going to go trick-or-treating at a Jehovah's Witness's house as revenge for the many times they've been harassed by them.

* RobinWilliams mentioned at in one stand-up special that he became so burned out on religion that if a Jehovah's Witness came to the door and asked if he found Jesus, he would like to answer the door naked and say, "No, why don't you help me find him? Come on!"

** One "flashback" had Peter remembering his time as a Jehovah's Witness. The guy answers the door, Peter asks if he'd like to hear about Jesus and the guy says, "Yes." Peter is befuddled and doesn't know what to say, since that's the first time anybody hasn't slammed the door in his face. He then tried to tell the story of Jesus, but he ended up explaining the plot of ''QuantumLeap''.

* RossNoble has a routine about religion where he considers how this would go with a ''{{Monopoly}}'' fan in place of the Jehovah's Witness. "Oh, you're busy right now? Okay, I'll just leave the rules."

** Marge and Lisa install a new doorbell that plays a really irritating song whenever somebody rings it, but various events prevent anyone from ringing the bell. Two Jehovah's Witnesses walk up to the house. Marge and Lisa are happy that now the bell will be rung. Then one of the Witnesses suddenly has a revelation -- maybe other people don't appreciate having their lives meddled in? The two Witnesses quit, and the doorbell remains unrung.

Try to do the same thing for a Mormon, go on, we'll still be here. You've probably found it's a very similar list with the point about blood transfusions being swapped for one about polygamy. In fiction, lots of evangelical sects will have their occurrences and mentions built around the practise of door to door evangelising (with maybe the odd peripheral belief). [[TruthInTelevision While it's what they do do in the real world]], on TV, they're the guys who turn up on your doorstep with some leaflets to convert you while the lead character finds inventive ways to repel them. To be fair, it's [[RuleOfFunny often quite funny]] and it's the character's time and doorstep. To be also fair, it may set up the UnfortunateImplications that there is this one religious sect that it's fine to treat like dicks for their beliefs. For the sake of wiki harmony, let's leave [[FlameWar the debate]] there.

One of the main differences in depictions in media is that Mormons tend to be associated with bicycles; for instance, ''JohnSafranVsGod'' had him pitching the idea of X-Treme Mormons to a movie producer, which mostly revolved around bike stunts.

So a pair of characters will turn up at the doorstep, say something about God, maybe clutching some folded literature, say something about the End Of Times with a very small chance of muttering something about a "watchtower" and then cue humour inducing reponse. The portrayal is actually broad enough that it sometimes creeps into this broad evangelical Christian depiction where nothing sect specific appears and perhaps some stuff from several denominations do. On the other hand, if the practise of door-stopping is mentioned in conversation at some other point, it will more often be attributed to a Jehovah's Witness and if a comedy, the revelation that somebody in the room is a Jehovah's Witness.

* In an episode of ''BlackBooks'', a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses knock on Bernard's door, and Bernard is so desperate for a distraction from the paperwork that he invites them in. He then winds up having to give them hints about what to do next, because it's been so long since anybody let them actually do the witnessing that they've forgotten how it goes.
** He also more or less converts them to Catholicism.

* In ''ScoobyDoo 2: Monsters Unleashed'', the Scooby gang approach the front door of a suspect, only to fall prey to a booby trap that has already claimed [[AcceptableTargets a Girl Scout selling cookies and two Jehovah's Witnesses]]. They're all unharmed though.

* In ''SpittingImage,'' we see a Soviet space station, and a man in a space suit knocking on the station (which is [[Understatement hard to do in space]]). A Russian Cosmonaut opens the door. "Yes, comrade?" "Hi, I'm from the Jehovah's Witnesses -- " (slam!)

* In ''SpittingImage,'' we see a Soviet space station, and a man in a space suit knocking on the station (which is hard hard to do in space). A Russian Cosmonaut opens the door. "Yes, comrade?" "Hi, I'm from the Jehovah's Witnesses -- " (slam!)

* In ''Coneheads'', the federal immigration officers trying to expose them as illegal [[AWorldwidePunomenon aliens]] get into their house by posing as Witnesses. They fare substantially better than most TV [=JWs=] since their talk of the coming end of the world jives with the Coneheads' plans to be the ones who end it.

-->'''Mrs. Peacock:''' "Our LIVES are in danger, you beatnik!"

* Members of the Reformed Church of Om in the {{Discworld}} universe. Said religion used to smite all those who didn't believe in Om, but He has mellowed somewhat since ''Discworld/SmallGods'' and now His faithful try to convert the openminded with strategically distributed pamphlets and early morning knocks at the door. Constable Visit (full name Visit-the-Ungodly-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets) is one such recurring character (though he has been cautioned about the pamphlets).

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Criminal Minds}}'', a woman assumes the duo wearing a suit and knocking at her door are Jehovah's Witnesses. They're FBI agents.

* In another InteractiveFiction game ''{{Heavy Rain}}'', a doctor is [[spoiler:about to kill one of the main characters]] when one of these knocks on his door. While the devout one preaches about the word of god, and the doctor tries to get rid of him as quickly as possible, [[spoiler:the main character is shown in split-screen, desperately trying to pull themselves free of their ropes before the doctor comes back and performs surgery on them with a power drill.]]

* ''{{VGCats}}'' reports the dreaded [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=199 Jenova's witnesses]] of ''FinalFantasyVII'', though one panel confuses them with Mormons.

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* Played with on ''[[ThirdRockFromTheSun 3rd Rock From The Sun]]''. When the Solomons moved to get away from a reporter, they left a note on their door telling Jehovah's Witnesses where to find them. (The reporter, of course, read the note instead.)
** Another episode showed them talking to the Witnesses and being very confused about this "God" person. (He's always with you? Is he waiting in the car?)

* Al from ''MarriedWithChildren'' has a very ''special'' way of dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses...

* In an episode of ''{{Criminal Minds}}'', a woman assumes the duo wearing a suit and knocking at her door are Jehovah's Witnesses. They're FBI agents.

* In ''{{Clue}}'', the dinner party/murder mystery (no, real murder) is interrupted briefly as the summation is going on by a bearded door-to-door Evangelist to warn the characters "The kingdom of heaven is at hand!" [[spoiler: Of course, like everyone else in the movie, he is not who he seems to be.]]

** Inverted on a Halloween episode [[hottip:*:The one with The Village People cameoing as themselves and Katey Sagal playing a dual role as The Grim Reaper]] where Peggy tells Bud and Kelly that they're going to go trick-or-treating at a Jehovah's Witness's house as revenge for the many times they've been harassed by them.

** Inverted on a Halloween episode [[hottip:*:The one with The Village People cameoing as themselves and Katey Sagal playing a dual role as The Grim Reaper]] where Peggy tells Bud and Kelly that they're going to go trick-or-treating at a Jehovah's Witness's house as revenge for the many times they've been harassed by them.

* In an episode of ''{{House}}'', House is interrupted from a conversation when some nondescript Christian missionaries knock on his door. Before slamming the door in their faces, he says, "Oh, you're selling religion. No thanks, I just bought loads of Islam last week."

* The Friends of the Gate in ''DarkerThanBlack'' show up at Hei's apartment to try to recruit him. He just wants to put away his groceries. Made even funnier on ce you [[FridgeBrilliance realize]] that their cult would just about regard him as a deity if they knew who he was.

* Mentioned hilariously in {{Transmetropolitan}}.
-->'''Spider:''' So this Zealot comes to my door, all glazed eyes and clean reproductive organs, asking me if I ever think about God. So I tell him I killed God. I tracked God down like a rabid dog, hacked off his legs with a hedge trimmer, raped him with a corncob, and boiled off his corpse in an acid bath. So he pulls an alternating-current taser on me and tells me that only the Official Serbian Church of Tesla can save my polyphase intrinsic electric field, known to non-engineers as "the soul."
-->So I hit him. What would you do?

* In LatterDays, one of the main characters, Aaron, is a young Mormon who goes to L.A. to do missionary work, which includes going door-to-door.
* In {{Clue}}, the dinner party/murder mystery (no, real murder) is interrupted briefly as the summation is going on by a bearded door-to-door Evangelist to warn the characters "The kingdom of heaven is at hand!" [[spoiler: Of course, like everyone else in the movie, he is not who he seems to be.]]

** His days off consist of his trying to convert people with a fellow Omnian, Smith-the-Unbeliever-with-Cunning-Arguments. Entire bars full of people duck under tables and turn off the lights until they're safely past.

* RobinWilliams mentioned at in one stand-up special that he became so burned out on religion that if a Jehova's Witness came to the door and asked if he found Jesus, he would like to answer the door naked and say, "No, why don't you help me find him? Come on!"

* Davan of ''SomethingPositive'' found a couple of Mormons on his doorstep once. He let they stay and talk but informed them that he would continue doing what he would normally be doing at this time. That would be [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbating]].
* [[AffablyEvil The Sphinx]] from Webcomic/{{Subnormality}} seems to [[http://www.viruscomix.com/page409.html regard them]] as [[spoiler: an inexhaustible source of [[ImAHumanitarian at-home snack]] deliveries]]
* [[ChoppingBlock "If experience had taught him nothing else, Butch had learned that you never, ever leave witnesses. So this "Jehova" fella, whoever he was, was about to owe Butch a favor."]]

* In ''TheSimpsons,'' Marge and Lisa install a new doorbell that plays a really [[strike:cool]] irritating song whenever somebody rings it, but various events prevent anyone from ringing the bell. Two Jehovah's Witnesses walk up to the house. Marge and Lisa are happy that now the bell will be rung. Then one of the Witnesses suddenly has a revelation -- maybe other people don't appreciate having their lives meddled in? The two Witnesses quit, and the doorbell remains unrung.

*** And on another occasion, Marge recounts how she was so lonely that she invited some Witnesses in and wouldn't let them leave; they finally snuck out the window while her back was turned.
* One "flashback" in ''FamilyGuy'' had Peter remembering his time as a Jehovah's Witness. The guy answers the door, Peter asks if he'd like to hear about Jesus and the guy says, "Yes." Peter is befuddled and doesn't know what to say, since that's the first time anybody hasn't slammed the door in his face.
** He then tried to tell the story of Jesus, but he ended up explaining the plot of ''QuantumLeap''.

** At one point the Devil Fan went door to door proclaiming eternal damnation.

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