Humor Theory: Law of Threes · 1:15pm May 19th, 2017
WARNING: Dissecting live jokes is really not as fun as hearing them.
In comedy they have this wonderful little thing they always like to tell you that sounds like its totally full of shit and 1000% arbitrary. Comedy comes in threes. Its a tried and true method that some people believe with their heart and soul, and while it doesn't always work, it can be a really effective method for some.
Why is that? Is three just a funny number?
No, that would be stupid. The number three by itself really isn't all that great, but it does come with an important lesson in understanding comedy. Lets break down what a three beat joke is like. Watch this:
Alright, so there was a lot of jokes, but the one that follows the rule of three is the namesake notches joke. Why is the notches joke so funny at the end? Would it have been funny if Troy just made his notch randomly at first? Not at all. The other two are important. The first notch is Abed making a point about Jeff doing a classic reversal with wit and character, something that people champion quite often. This is the first time we see anybody making a notch. Its believable, we think "that was a notable moment, its kinda cool that he is keeping track."
What if troy just made his notch now?
Still wouldn't be too funny... Why is that? Well lets keep going and find out.
There is a ghost beat in this joke, which is Jeff making his notch for Annie's mention of his abs. Its a cut at the hormonal sexual desires Annie has for Jeff, but its not a super strong joke on its own. On its own, it just seems like a space filler... but thats exactly what makes it really well placed. It seems like a worthless moment, but it makes the joke here because it repeats the trend.
We've seen 2 cases of notch making, and now we expect it. Our brains have determined in our head that "Notch making is something people do to keep track of very specific things." This is pavlovian response now. When Troy makes a notch, we are already wondering and trying to process information about what is going on to anticipate what the reason for his notch making is going to be.
And then there is subversion. Notches, because notches are fun.
This is the power of three. Its the minimum requirements to fuck up a line.
Instance one: Inception: We introduce a behavior. It gives us information that is distinct that draws our attention and makes us think about it. This is the brave proposal of an idea to the brain.
Instance two: Reinforcement- We encourage the acceptance of a flawed or incomplete idea as law. Its like creating an internal group think in the brain. It is a circle jerk of sorts. We are encouraging the brain to switch from an inquisitive mindset to one where we assume the rules of the scenario, because thats easier for us.
Instance three: Deviation- This is the punchline. We change up the rules and break all expectations. The audience is caught with their pants down, and its hilarious.
In essence, it doesn't have to be three. Movies and scripts like the rule of three, because anything more requires valuable screen time. They are in the interest of shaving off the unnecessary, so boiling down to the minimum of three makes sense.
What about jokes that do not have 3 beats?
Comedy is about perception. Whether you analyze it with Superiority theory, Incongruity Theory, or Relief Theory, the linking connection is perception. Its conveying an idea and breaking away from it. To make a joke, there needs to be some shared idea about how something works and there needs to be deviation. Really, its a two pump gun. Why do we need step two? Sometimes the brain asks questions. In the interest of being believable, step two makes us drop our guard and makes expectations greater.
There are jokes that do not need set ups, to the people they are told to step one comes built in. This is why people say "Know your audience." Its not "know what they will laugh at," its "know your audience." Know how they think. If you can do that, then you can totally skip step one and proceed to breaking down their perceptions about things. In those cases, its easy to have step one turn into step 2, which is generally harmless, but it might point people down the direction of your joke. Timing is key, right? People can tell when they are being manipulated. That said, a good joke can break through that. Even so, if you are able to understand exactly what people are thinking, you can tell a joke straight to step 3. No set up, no reinforcement, because those things are built in. That is how you end up as the champ of one liner quips.
Other jokes can skip step 2 entirely, because they are believable enough on their own that we don't question them. That said, it can really vary from person to person, because rarely do people think about things in the exact same way. So much of telling a well rounded joke is figuring out how to insure that people understand your joke without beating people over the head with it.
There are a few cultures which have the rule of 4 instead of the rule of 3. Either Navajo or Hopi is one of them; I forget which. They're uncommon, though. I think they're probably all cultures where people have a lot of spare time.
4541971 Navajo humor theory sounds amazing. I guess story telling traditions can be a lot like stand up.