Funny Business: Second City’s Influence on Innovation
By Dan Farkas
June-July 2025
One spotlight. One hundred people. Zero earthly idea of what to do.
This wasn’t a client meeting. It was my improv comedy group performing live on a Monday night. Nothing was normal. The audience featured my parents, my girlfriend, her parents, her grandmother and my news director.
When my castmate Turner called my girlfriend’s dad on stage, he picked me to sing a song about him in the style of a boy band. My girlfriend’s dad… the Backstreet Boys. I didn’t “want it that way.” I’ve anchored daily newscasts for 60,000 viewers and felt frozen in front of 100 folks. Boy bands. Future in-laws. Grandma!
PR professionals never know when those moments will occur. When they do, we often focus on the ever-growing list of how to share a message. We can blog, TikTok, listen, record and reel. What about getting people to stop, listen and engage?
Think first of a second city.
I had the joy of briefly training with the Second City improvisational comedy group. Second City’s teachings impact my creativity daily, and we can all benefit from their 60 years of wisdom to further foster creative innovation. Here’s how:
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Dan Farkas
Dan Farkas is a proud executive committee member of PRSA’s Counselors Academy. A professor of strategic communication at Ohio University, Dan is also the chief advocate officer of Pass PR, which bridges the gap between employer needs and employee capacity.
