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When creating a comic trio, you can either make them all very similar or each very different. Very similar trios are those groups of triplets, like Disney’s Huey, Dewey and Louie, or Hamish, Hubert and Harris from Pixar’s Brave.  Triplets have a fairly specific use in comedy, so it is more common to create trios from individuals who are themselves unique.

The reason for making them different is to develop conflict within their group dynamic. While trios are often engaged in conflict with out side forces, the comedy comes from how they relate to each other.  Most comic trios develop organically, but there is a formula you can consider for creating three contrasting personalities.

The best characters will reflect those traits we see in ourselves. How do you get three different characters who all seem similar to us in some way?  You make each one reflect something common to all humans.  The famed psychologist Sigmund Freud sorted out human personality into three components.  The Id, the Ego, and the Superego.  The theory is that everybody has these three sides to themselves, and together they make a whole.

The id is considered the most primitive of the three. It is like the child who hasn’t learned to wait to get what it wants. The character is impulsive, and often concerned with bodily desires. He or she can also be very emotional when meeting resistance. Often, this is the first, most easily recognized character.

The superego is the most thoughtful. It considers what is right and wrong. This is what is learned through society.

The ego tries to negotiate between the two others.

Here is a convenient graphic:

Sometimes the ego is the leader of the group, but they can simply be the protagonist with two very different buddies. They can also just be the nice, in between one that follows the others.

A good example from animation are the three main characters from the television show Futurama.  Bender the robot is easily identified as the id.  He’s boozy and loud, always looking for an easy way to get ahead of others.  Leela is the smartest of the three, she makes good choices.  Fry, the out of place human from the past is dim witted, but this is his story and the other two support him. He is the ego.

In the Powerpuff Girls, the superego is actually the leader, Blossom. The id is Buttercup, the feistiest of the three.  Bubbles, the fun loving one, is the ego.

While looking for examples of movie trios for this post I found these next images.

The original three Ghostbusters.  Bill Murray as the sloppy, skirt chasing Peter Venkman is the Id. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) is analytical and cool, he is the superego.  Ray Stantz (Dan Akroyd)is the one pushing the Ghostbusters business forward, he is the face of the group and works with the others as the ego.

Of course, the trios don’t have to be funny.  The three pictured above are easy to identify.  Gollum, the id, craves only the ring. Sam, the superego, only wants to take care of his friend Frodo.  Frodo, the ego, is the protagonist of the story and he must work with the others as he sees fit.

Once you understand the basic idea, it becomes easy to recognize who is who in most any trio.

The conventional screen writing books will tell you that bad luck can get a character into trouble, but good luck can never get him out. That’s cheating. The character has to devise the solution and make it happen.

But when Jack Sparrow sails into port on the top of the mast of a sinking ship, stepping onto the dock as gracefully as you please, luck has brought him in that way. While Jack is a skilled and clever fellow, luck serves him very well through all his adventures. He has charmed the gods.

Buster Keaton’s character was also a lucky guy. When, in Steamboat Bill Jr., the house wall gets blown down on top of him, and he fits neatly through the window, it was pure chance that saved him.

What brought me to think of this was my re-watching of the original cut of The Thief and the Cobbler. Way back in the day, I had the chance to see the original cut of the film. I remember being blown away, especially by the war machine sequence of the climax. I just got around to watching the entire “recobbled cut” on youtube.

As I watched it seemed to me that the cobbler is very much a Charlie Chaplin style character. while the thief is Buster Keaton. In particular, his Keatonesque act is apparent during the war machine sequence of the climax. It is a must see sequence for anyone in animation. It is absolutely spectacular, and NOT included on the horrible “Arabian Knights” video that was made from the parts.

His goal is to steal the three golden balls that are perched at the top of a massive war machine commanded by the evil “One Eye”. The Cobbler shoots a tack, which starts a chain reaction that destroys the preposterously huge war machine. As this world is exploding around him, the Thief manages to avoid obliteration many times over. He casually walks and flies through the conflagration of falling elephants, waves of arrows, and giant spiked balls. It is Buster Keaton on acid.

Here are the two vids that contain the part I’m talking of, but if you haven’t watched the whole thing, start from part 1 and make it full screen.

Here is an idea for a challenging animation exercise.  Instead of the serious parkour actions that are so common, have a character do some gymnastics, but screw it up the way Paul Hunt does in these examples.

Thanks to Chris Michael at New Slapstick for his tweet that introduced me to Paul Hunt, comedy gymnast. From wikipedia:

Hunt was a competitive men’s gymnast at the University of Illinois in the early 1970s. He won the Big Ten Conference individual championship in the floor exercise in 1971, and had another win in the floor exercise in 1973. He was the 1972 US National Floor Exercise champion.
Hunt has been coaching gymnastics in Utah since 1974. While demonstrating a backflip for a female student, he realized the comic value of a man performing women’s gymnastics. He performs his routines during gymnastics competitions for comic relief, wearing a skirted leotard and often calling himself Paulina Huntesque, Pauletta Huntenova or some similar variation. Often he would sport his thick mustache.

The team of Peter Sellers and director Blake Edwards brought some great slapstick to the sound movies. Every animator should know their work. Here are a few great examples from the Pink Panther films.

Clouseau paid his butler to try surprise attacks. It’s an interesting relationship, with the appearing to want to kill each other, then being all business.

This next one is classic struggle to solve a problem. It makes me think of Chuck Jones.

Just the idea is funny: Man with a full leg cast tries to use airplane toilet.