Beat

A beat is a pause taken for the purposes of comic timing, often to allow the audience time to recognize the joke and react, or to heighten suspense before delivering the expected punch line. For example, in Jack Benny's radio and television sketches, he often used a prolonged pause after a setup line, such as responding to a question about his age with silence and a stare, amplifying the humor through audience anticipation. Dramatic pauses can also be used to distinguish subtext from what the speaker is thinking about.

Pregnant pause

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