AYYY!

So, last time I went out, my wing and I stumbled across two girls who we proceeded to game. One was somewhat quiet, and the other was a little more energetic, but equally snappy. She was the type who was bent on trying to break down our confidence, and when it came down to it, she was pretty witty.

Now, I'm not the wittiest character in the world, but my wing is a great wing in the sense that he never partakes in the banter directed at me - I've had "wings" who've done that and that completely devalues me to the targets and destroys my chances of closing.

Lately, however, I've been focusing on techniques to spin disses and maintain value during banter attacks. (eg exaggerating what the opponent says to the point that it's funny, owning it and spinning into a prejudice on the opponent's part, spinning it to point out a different but related flaw in the opponent) I'm not great but did a decent job of holding my own (at least I think - but the next sentence my prove that that's not true lol). Problem is though, over the course of the night, I was becoming more energetic with my responses in a sort of desperate, trying-too-hard manner, as opposed to remaining calm, cool, and collected the whole time. I was also recycling formats, and they picked up on it and used it against me. It came to the point that the less energetic girl said to me at one point in the night "...then stop being immature." (I'd tell you more but I was more than a couple drinks deep and don't remember what she was responding to)

Now, I have tricks to remind myself to maintain eye contact, to kino, to identify body language/IOIs, but my energy gets the best of me, especially when a few drinks are in me. What tips do you guys have to remind yourself to stay calm/cool/collected, especially in the face of wit? How do you respond well without looking reactive?