Second City

Second City is the legendary comedy institution that launched the careers of countless stars including Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Steve Carell. They deliver customized corporate training on improvisation, teamwork, and communication, using comedy techniques to build collaboration and creativity. Second City’s business programs have helped organizations from Fortune 500 companies to startups innovate and connect.

Second City Works (SCW) is the innovative business solutions division of the world famous, improv comedy theater, The Second City – alumni include: the Belushi’s, Harold Ramis, Gilda Radner, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Tim Meadows, Bonnie Hunt, Jeff Garlin, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Ed Helms, Steve Carell, Steven Colbert, and so on. We work with hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies and complete over 400 engagements a year, using comedy and improvisation to improv(e) training and communications. Areas of focus include sales force effectiveness, ethics and compliance communications, leadership development, marketing, social media & branded content development, leadership development, and don’t forget, corporate entertainment.

Second City has been entertaining audiences and churning out North America’s most famous comedians for over 58 years. In addition to helping thousands of corporations’ stage successful events, we have become thought leaders in the field of employee engagement…i.e. we know how to win an audience. What we have learned over the years is that improvisation and humor are great skills building tools to address tough subjects and bridge alignment. We blend entertainment with social learning to make better connections with people around your messaging. We have a variety of capabilities including: corporate workshops and training, meeting and event support, live entertainment, creative video communications and brand marketing assignments for clients in every industry. In essence, the core competencies of The Second City surround creating customized comedic content and engaging audiences.

Improv show – We hand-select our best actors for a short-form improvisation show, taking live audience suggestions to create an entirely original set in the moment using concepts most relevant to your business. Our actors make sure all suggestions are safe and corporate appropriate.

• Cast of 6 (4 actors, 1 musical director & 1 stage manager)
• Lead time 4 weeks
• 30-45 minutes in length

Best of the Second City show – We pull our best material from our nearly 55-years of theatrical history archives, including sketches and improvisation based on your audience and event theme. Pulling relevant scenes will make the audience feel as if the show was written just for them but without the custom pricing.

• Cast of 7 (5 actors, 1 musical director & 1 stage manager)
• Lead time is 4-6 weeks
• 50 minutes in length

Custom show – This option includes ⅓ of each: improv, “best of” material and custom-written sketches. We’ll write 3 brand new scenes and embed them within the show. The client works with a director and 2 writers, and has approvals over all custom material – this process is about 3 or 4 phone calls.

• Cast of 7 (5 actors, 1 musical director & 1 stage manager)
• Lead time 4-6 weeks
• 60 minutes in length