  In this paper we study typical ranks of real $m\times n \times \ell$ tensors.
In the case $ (m-1)(n-1)+1 \leq \ell \leq mn$ the typical ranks are contained
in $\{\ell, \ell +1\}$, and $\ell$ is always a typical rank. We provide a
geometric proof of this fact. We express the probabilities of these ranks in
terms of the probabilities of the numbers of intersection points of a random
linear space with the Segre variety. In addition, we give some heuristics to
understand how the probabilities of these ranks behave, based on asymptotic
results on the average number of real points in a random linear slice of a
Segre variety with a subspace of complementary dimension.
  The typical ranks of real $3\times 3\times 5$ tensors are $5$ and $6$. We
link the rank probabilities of a $3\times 3 \times 5$ tensor with i.i.d.\
Gaussian entries to the probability of a random cubic surface in $\P^3$ having
real lines. As a consequence, we get a bound on the expected number of real
lines on such a surface.
