Times are tough for business owners. Everyone is pinching pennies, and everyone wants solutions.

A local comic/business professional told the members of the Jamaica Plain Business and Professional Association one solution involves more joking around.

Allan Telio, vice president of business development for MyEnergy.com and improv comedian on the side, led a presentation to at a Wednesday meeting of the business association at JP Seafood Cafe. He introduced a game called “Pass the Clap.”

“No, no, it’s not what you’re thinking,” he said.

During the team-building exercise (depicted in the video), members of the group stand in a circle. Two people begin by clapping simultaneously toward one another, and the person to the right turns to the person to his or her right and claps again. If someone claps twice, the clapping reverses direction.