diff --git a/Lib/pydoc.py b/Lib/pydoc.py
index 591d7bc8f865cf..00a65b2ded716e 100755
--- a/Lib/pydoc.py
+++ b/Lib/pydoc.py
@@ -2082,7 +2082,7 @@ def intro(self):
 '''.format('%d.%d' % sys.version_info[:2]))
 
     def list(self, items, columns=4, width=80):
-        items = list(sorted(items))
+        items = sorted(items)
         colw = width // columns
         rows = (len(items) + columns - 1) // columns
         for row in range(rows):
@@ -2114,7 +2114,7 @@ def listtopics(self):
 Here is a list of available topics.  Enter any topic name to get more help.
 
 ''')
-        self.list(self.topics.keys())
+        self.list(self.topics.keys(), columns=3)
 
     def showtopic(self, topic, more_xrefs=''):
         try: