I like the clown idea as long as you aren't coulrophobic.
I used to wear a really thick rubber band on my wrist and when my thoughts (mouth or actions) were taking me someplace I didn't want to go, I would snap that thing really hard. Nice way to modify behavior.
The other technique I used was to write down bullet points of what I wanted to share and listen to any feedback that was offered (in my case that wasn't much). If I found myself slipping, I would say that I wanted to think about what was said and I'd get back to him. I'm what I would call a back burner thinker anyway, so it worked for me.
You don't have to have an answer for anything "right now". It's always ok to say "I'll get back to you on that" or in the case of slippage, to say "I'm working on that".
