The Second City is a celebrated improvisational and sketch-comedy institution founded in Chicago in 1959 by Bernard Sahlins, Paul Sills, and Howard Alk. Its name playfully refers to Chicago’s long-standing reputation as a city living in New York’s shadow, but the organization quickly established an identity and influence of its own. Drawing heavily on the improvisational theater games developed by Viola Spolin, whose work shaped modern improv and whose son was Paul Sills, The Second City created a distinctive form of comedy built around ensemble performance, spontaneous collaboration, social observation, and original characters. Rather than relying primarily on individual stand-up routines or conventional joke structures, its performers developed scenes from real-life experiences, political events, cultural tensions, and everyday absurdities. The result was a style that combined intellectual satire with physical comedy and made the audience feel closely connected to the creative process. Its central improvisational principle, often summarized by the phrase “Yes, and…,” encourages performers to accept their scene partners’ ideas and build on them instead of rejecting or blocking them.
Over the decades, The Second City has become far more than a single theater troupe: it is a major comedy company, live performance venue, training center, and launching pad for performers, writers, directors, and teachers. Its stages and classes have helped shape generations of comedy talent, including Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, John Candy, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, and many others who went on to work in television, film, theater, and comedy. The organization’s influence is especially visible in productions such as SCTV, whose ensemble-based approach carried many Second City traditions to a broad television audience. Although its Chicago home remains central to its identity, The Second City has expanded its programming and presence through additional theaters, touring productions, corporate workshops, digital projects, and training programs in other cities, including Toronto and New York. Its lasting importance comes from the way it treats comedy as both performance and collaboration: a disciplined craft that depends on listening, adaptability, strong points of view, and the ability to turn ordinary experiences into sharp, memorable humor.
Welcome to our The Second City coupon and promo code page. Below you’ll find everything you need to know about how to save on your online order at The Second City.
The best The Second City coupon code currently is 59% OFF FREE GIFT off with code "BDAY59". This promo code saves you 20% off once applied at checkout.
In order to use your The Second City promo code, you’ll want to add your desired The Second City products to your shopping cart. Once you’re finished shopping and are ready to pay, go to the checkout. From the checkout page, you’ll notice there’s a box next to your total where you can input a code. The box could or prompt “coupon”, “promo code”, or “discount code”.
Next, you’ll want to figure out which coupon you want to apply. We recommend the first coupon at the top of this page. Just click “Get Coupon,” and you’ll notice a pop-up with the code. Copy the code.
Go back to step 1 where you located the “discount code or gift card” box. Simply paste your copied coupon here, and you’ll see the savings after clicking apply.
The bulk of our team at ShipTheDeal works around the clock looking for coupons and adding them to your favorite stores as soon as possible. We also partner with thousands of online stores and are provided exclusive discount codes to share with our audience. Our team searches for The Second City promo codes by signing up for their newsletters, social media accounts, live chat, and more. We check the most popular stores daily and add coupons as soon as possible.
Part of our process is aggregating coupons from a variety of sources, but the bulk of our coupons come from a team that monitors sales and discount code releases. Oftentimes, these codes are short-lived, but we do our best to update them as fast as possible. We also allow our users to submit a coupon.
If you have your own The Second City promo code, you can submit your code here.
The Second City does not allow multiple coupons, otherwise known as coupon stacking. You can only redeem one discount code at a time so we recommend finding the largest current offer. Typically, the coupon will work on sale items, meaning you can still double dip on your savings. Additionally, you can still qualify for free shipping on certain orders with your coupon.
Unfortunately, not every store has coupons available at all times of the year. Some stores only release online coupons during holidays, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday. That said, there are several other ways you can save money without a code.
We suggest signing up for The Second City newsletters to make sure you’re immediately notified when the newest coupons and flash sales happen. Sometimes you’ll instantly receive a % off code just by signing up.
Most websites offer free shipping if you qualify by fulfilling the minimum order required. You’ll typically be notified of this while going through the checkout process or by a banner at the top of the The Second City website.
We find a lot of coupons not posted, simply by emailing for a discount or by asking “live chat”. You’d be surprised at how effective this savings hack is!
Check to see if there’s a referral program. Many stores will give you a referral link or referral code to pass on to your friends, and give you a substantial discount if they purchase. Typically your friend or family member will receive a discount as well. Referral codes can save you anywhere from $10 - $50 for you and your referral.
Many stores will send you a follow-up email offering a discount on your shopping cart if you simply close out the checkout page or just leave their website. This cart abandonment tactic is a great way to get a free discount code sent straight to your inbox. Be patient, as it can take a few hours for their marketing emails to hit your inbox with your coupon. Most of the time the subject line will say something like “It looks like you forgot to complete your purchase”.
Some online stores only post their coupons and promo codes on social media platforms. You can visit their pages and see if there are any recent codes offered. Additionally, you can send them a private message asking for a new working coupon. In fact, a lot of online shops only promote their coupons to their social media followers.
Sometimes The Second City will simply have prices slashed, and no code is required for your discount. Typically, we’ll let you know how big the sale is, and by clicking “get deal” above, you’ll be able to redeem your savings. If you do find a promo code in addition to the sale offered, give it a try, and you should be able to redeem it for further savings.
Typically, you can receive free shipping on select orders depending on the size of your order. The checkout page will notify what the order size needs to be to qualify for free shipping. You can also check The Second City’s website for their shipping policy to learn more.
The Referral Code or “Refer a Friend” program is a great way to receive a large discount on your purchase price. In order to qualify, you’ll need to create an account and log in. From here, you’ll have access to your referral link, which can be shared with your friends and family. Your referral link will give both you and your friend a discount once they make a purchase. You can’t use your own referral code for your own purchase. We would recommend having a family member use your link instead.
Unless otherwise stated, we could not find a student discount code for The Second City. It’s not common for online stores to offer student discounts, but when they do become available, we’ll list them here. In the event there is no student discount, you can still save with our coupon codes offered.
Currently, The Second City doesn’t have any military or first responder discounts. Most brands that have military discounts will let you know on their footer.
If you check the sales or clearance tab at the top of the page, you’ll be able to see a list of items marked down. You can combine your coupon with any one of these items to save extra while checking out.
If this is your first time purchasing at The Second City, you can qualify for a first-time customer discount. Most of the time, you’ll have to sign up for their newsletter to get your code. If it’s a generic coupon, we’ll post it above. If it’s a single-use offer, you’ll have to use their newsletter. If you aren’t a first-time user and want to take advantage of this offer, you’ll want to use a different email address to get your promo code.
We list coupons by their expiration dates. Once a coupon expires, it is moved to the “Expired Coupons” list below active offers. Most of the time, these codes won’t work,k but sometimes they get relisted. That said, sometimes codes expire, and our team misses them. If this happens, try the next code we offer or email us directly to see if we can find you a working code.
