If you radiate comfort and confidence, other people will absorb your comfort and confidence. It's hard to get into an awkward situation when the group is feeling like that.
If the awkwardness is about another person's embarrassment, make them feel loved, cool, or validated. If something humiliating was revealed about them, you can reveal something humiliating about yourself to even the playing field.
If the awkwardness is about your own embarrassment, make it clear that you feel great.
If the awkwardness is about uncertainty, create certainty.
Awkwardness is a choice.