You can't wait forever for an audience to get the joke, but you should give them at least two seconds to join in before you go on to the next one.

On a good night, I'm just into the flow and seeing the pictures and words in my mind clearly before I say them. On a bad night, which to be honest are nowhere near as bad as when I was starting out, I just concentrate on performing the routines correctly. I focus on my delivery.

You must study their deliveries, their use of their bodies, their timing, and their use of audio and vocal effects.

Being a professional comedian is doing it right and good, when you don't feel like it.

Obviously the audience has veto power signified by whether they laugh or not, but you-not them-retain the ultimate power to decide what they're going to get the opportunity to laugh at.

Ideally, you want to be in a fifty-fifty power-sharing arrangement with the audience - both of you are there for a mutually enjoyable experience.

It's better to play to the host as though in a real conversation and let the audience listen in- which they are.