Comedy
One of the best examples of the power of the rule of three is in comedy, where it is also called a comic triple. Two is the smallest number of points needed to establish a pattern, and comedians exploit the way people's minds perceive expected patterns to throw the audience off track (and make them laugh) with the third element.
The generic three-panel daily comic strip, and Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman, as well as "a blonde, a brunette and a redhead" jokes are some more examples of the rule of three in comedy.
Read more about this topic: Rule Of Three (writing)
Famous quotes containing the word comedy:
“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.”
—Monty Python’s Flying Circus. first broadcast Sept. 22, 1970. Michael Palin, in Monty Python’s Flying Circus (BBC TV comedy series)
“If Shakespeare were alive today and writing comedy for the movies, he would be the head-liner for the Mack Sennett studios.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“The actors today really need the whip hand. They’re so lazy. They haven’t got the sense of pride in their profession that the less socially elevated musical comedy and music hall people or acrobats have. The theater has never been any good since the actors became gentlemen.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)