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They fuel comedy as we know it. For more than 40 years, the stars of the Chicago-based The Second City Theatre -- America's preeminent laugh factory -- have roped even the most timid and uptight onto hilarious audience-participation skits. They've shouted, ranted, and bumbled their way into "Saturday Night Live," "Seinfeld," and "Cheers" -- but The Second City's company of loud mouths and class clowns may be the last people on earth whom you'd expect to coach corporate America on business and communication skills.

"Many companies need our help desperately," says Joe Keefe, cofounder and executive producer of 10-year-old Second City Communications (SCC), a branch of the comedy club that trains and entertains corporate clients ranging from J.D. Power to Leo Burnett to Motorola. "Our mandate is to bring a sense of fun and humor to what we're doing. We assist companies in internal and external communication."

That mandate doesn't mean teaching CEOs and corporate consultants how to dominate a conversation like John Belushi or how to dazzle an audience like Dan Aykroyd; it means using the basics of improvisation and humor to bolster communication, creative management, and team-building skills -- skills most companies can't afford to neglect.

According to Keefe, theater and business have a lot in common: Every endeavor has its stars, bit-part players, and behind-the-scenes managers. Likewise, rules for stage performances translate to business presentations and rules for building outstanding casts of characters apply to compiling top-notch talent.

Listen, accept, initiate, and contribute. These four elements of effective communication constitute the improv code. Keefe says learning these basics can boost any company's creativity, customer service, and teamwork.

Listen

Perhaps the most basic principle of performance, listening is a vital skill in every corporate atmosphere, Keefe says. Where theatrical leadership-training programs such as Philippe Gaulier's "clown school" emphasize charisma, Keefe believes that outstanding leaders must possess masterful communication skills.

"Listening in business today is 'Get to your point now because I have to run,'" Keefe says. "Businesspeople need to learn to open themselves up to a new idea fully, vulnerably, patiently, and accurately. They must allow time to listen emotionally, like your mother listened when you were hurt or upset. What you felt from her was more important than what she said to you. Likewise, you must prepare yourself emotionally at work and be willing to say, 'I'm here. I'm ready. I'm patient. You're the only person here -- my only focus.'"

Keefe calls this "hyperactive" listening -- listening emotionally and physically, to understand rather than to react. "In business, as in theater, one needs to listen physically," he says. "Move your body toward a person openly so not to lose placement, momentum, or focus on interpersonal, physical exchange."

Before students are ready to hyperactively listen, the eclectic SCC staff loosens up each group with nonsensical games like "Zip Zap Zop," an experiment in unorthodox communication that relies on finger snaps and strange sounds, or "How Do You Like Your Neighbor?", an adult form of musical chairs. "Within seconds, these games turn CEOs and typically buttoned-up people into laughing and giggling six-year-olds," New York-based SCC Producer Teresa Goodwin says.

Kraft Foods senior brand manager Mike Winter agrees. "SCC has a bunch of fun exercises that keep people engaged and their minds working," he says. After participating in an improvisation-focused workshop, Winter chose SCC to facilitate a larger, 3-hour brainstorming session that used "humor to loosen up and open up people to creative thinking."