Thank you Millard. What I do is look past the words they're
   using and imagine myself siting in their place, trying to
   understand their perspective and I start predicting their next
   moves and countering them ahead of time when I can.

   But I do it like a dance. They want a dramatic play? I know the
   script and can play my role. But I break character frequently
   until they can see the stage they're standing on, and I'm
   standing on... and see the cardboard props and the guy sitting
   there with the laugh track button and the 'aww" button, in the
   mostly empty auditorium.

   My hope is I'll hear, "Wanna beer?" when it's all done or
   something, although I prefer coffee.

   To do a variation on the Shakespeare, we're all but method
   actors who lost themselves in their parts.