Stay in the Pocket

I was at an open mic a few weeks ago, and this local comedian Brad Brake came in. This guy is a headliner, has been doing comedy for years, and is crazy and unpredictable. Hes known to take his pants off a lot on stage, do crazy audience interaction shit, whatever. Anyway, he came into this thing, and he was yelling at comedians to "stay in the pocket". I couldnt tell if he was drunk. At the time, I just thought that this was something ridiculous he was yelling. The more i think about it, the more i like the metaphor of comedian as quarterback, staying in the pocket. To me, this means you take your time with your jokes. You dont get desperate. Eventually you get the metaphorical ball to your receivers; the audience. Sometimes no one is open, and you take a coverage sack. But you dont force it, you dont scramble unless you have to.