Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #407: The Rule Of Three Is Now The Rule Of Two

The old comedy axiom is that the 3rd time gets the biggest laugh: watch any old sitcom or comedy movie and you see it over and over.  Something gets a laugh.  A few minutes later, it gets repeated, and gets another laugh.  Finally, much later, there’s a “call-back” and it gets said again, and that’s the “big” laugh.  That’s the Rule of Three.

But now, that’s outdated.  Everyone’s attention span is shorter now.  The Rule of Three doesn’t apply anymore.  Now it’s just 1, 2 instead of 1, 2, 3.  To sound like TODAY, you need to shorten that rhythm of yesterday.  If you do it a third time now, it usually just sounds like you’re trying too hard.  (Or maybe it doesn’t even make sense, because Time Spent Listening is so much shorter now.)


Tommy Kramer

Tommy has spent over 35 years as an air talent, programmer, operations manager and talent coach - working with over 300 stations in all formats. He publishes the Coaching Tip

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *