Boom, boom, bang: The rule of three

Why three is a magic number in comedy (and elsewhere).

“I got my first bikini. It's a three piece: It's a top, a bottom, and a blindfold for you.”
-Wendy Liebman

The rule of three is all about setting up a pattern and then breaking it on the third item.

The comedic rule of threes relies on setting up a pattern of two items and then subverting viewer expectations by breaking that pattern with the third item. One particularly notable example comes from The Dick Van Dyke Show – "Can I get you anything? Cup of coffee? Doughnut? Toupee?"

Just like most comedic writing, the rule of threes in comedy relies on building tension to a comedic release. In the case of the rule of threes, tension is built with the first two items in the pattern and then released with the final item, which should be the funniest of the three.

In Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, Roy Peter Clark tells writers to “establish a pattern, then give it a twist”. He explains three parallel elements create a rhythm of “boom boom boom” while adding a twist to the third element creates a more memorable “boom boom bang.”

Turns out there are rules of three all over the place.

There are actually many and varied rules of three in the world. Why? Because, as “Schoolhouse Rock” told us all in 1973, “three is a magic number.” It is the smallest number required to create a pattern, and patterns are how humans process information.

People love triads. We have three branches of government, three witches in “Macbeth,” three body paragraphs in the classic five-paragraph essay to make an argument. The holy trinity. The three wise men. The Three Stooges, the three bears. I could go on.

As the Romans said, “omne trium perfectum.” Which translates as, “everything that comes in threes is perfect.” That may be taking it a bit far, but you get the idea.

Speechwriters have their own rule of three, which involves rhetorical repetition. See Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which went in part: “We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.” “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.” So do mathematicians, whose rule of three has to do with solving linear problems in which three variables are known and the fourth is not.