Do you rehearse the first ten seconds after a big laugh?

I think people rehearse the line, but not always the silence after it. If something gets a much bigger laugh than expected, the temptation is either to step on it or stand there looking surprised until the room goes completely flat. Do you practise holding your next line until the laugh has actually peaked, or is that something you can only learn by feeling it onstage? I’m interested in whether anyone marks deliberate breathing/holding points in a set, especially before a line that needs to be heard cleanly.

When you get a new line onstage, how quickly do you write it down?

The annoying ones are the little accidental lines that get a proper laugh and then vanish from your brain by the time you’re on the train. I try to get the wording into my notes as soon as I’m offstage, before I improve it into something I didn’t actually say. Do you capture the exact line first and decide later whether it belongs in the bit, or wait until you listen back to the recording? I’m much more interested in preserving what happened than trusting my post-gig memory.

Do you change pace when the room is listening but not laughing much?

There’s a type of set that isn’t really bombing — people are listening, they’re with you, but the laughs are smaller and further apart than usual. I think the temptation is to speed up because it feels like you need to manufacture momentum, which can make everything worse. When you can tell the room is attentive but quiet, what do you actually adjust: pace, pauses, energy, or nothing until you have a clearer reason?