In my experience, its best to drive the discussion into technical areas that are so interesting that the interviewer runs out of time to ask their dumb canned q

In my experience, its best to drive the discussion into technical areas that are so interesting that the interviewer runs out of time to ask their dumb canned questions, including the "tell me about a time" questions (and hopefully also the whiteboarding questions). For example, if there's a new or emerging tool or technology that you're familiar with but the interviewer doesn't know much about, try and drive the discussion in that area. They'll likely be very curious to know if the new tool/tech can be useful to them, and will want to know all about your experience with it, giving you a chance to brag about areas where you're strong (or at least, stronger than them).