Students looking to relieve themselves from the burdens of the typical, grueling school week might find a suitable avenue for escape this weekend in the stand-up comedy of the State College branch of Wisecrackers, a chain of six Pennsylvania comedy clubs, one of which is located at the Ramada Inn, 1450 S. Atherton St.

Comedian Scott Bruce, who will be performing this weekend, has no such luxury. As he describes it, the job of a good comedian is to take the pressure off the audience and put it onto himself.

"When you're a comedian, it doesn't matter how crappy of a day you've had. When it comes to showtime, you have to give 'em everything you've got. It's like golf: if you take a day off in the middle of a tournament, you've lost that tournament.

If a comedian ever doesn't give it his all, he's lost something too, because now there is a whole roomful of people who think he's lousy."

Bruce assured that this weekend's show -- the last that Wisecrackers will be doing for the Ramada this semester -- will not be such a circumstance. "We loaded [the show] with a lot of laughs. This is going to be a real solid show," he said.

Citing as influences everyone from Jack Benny to Richard Pryor, Bruce describes his humor as the observational kind. "Everyday life comes up and slaps you on the head," Bruce said.

Joey Vega, a New York comedian also performing this weekend, has a similar style of humor. "I do pieces on things that everyone can relate to: marriage and divorce, relationships and family," he said.

Vega has been doing comedy for 20 years. He found his niche after going to a few comedy clubs for fun.

"It all started one night when a friend dared me to get on stage and after one performance I fell in love -- I've been doing it ever since," Vega said.

Although he started doing comedy acts at bars at 2 a.m., Vega has made a lot of progress as a stand up comedian. He has been on the Rosie O' Donnell show as well as made movies with famous actors and toured with Marc Anthony.

Vega doesn't have a set routine for his comedy acts. He has prepared jokes and set topics but tends to base his act on the audience.

"I usually play off an audience, if they aren't digging my act, I'll quit in the middle," he said.

Vega doesn't care what kind of audience it is as long as they're there to laugh.

"Laughter is contagious, there is no negativity in laughter. When people are laughing, everything is great," he said.

The third act of the night is Tim Gage, a part-time comic who has been performing for 12 years.

Like Vega, Gage also sees the great value in comedy. "I started doing comedy after my therapist recommended it," he said.

Gage started off doing open mics in bars and became hooked in a hurry. Although he doesn't do comedy full time, it takes a lot of time to prepare his acts.

All of that time pays off, however, when he delivers a rewarding act. He remembers one of his best shows was in front of audience sitting in wheelchairs.

"My act just really worked that night, the audience was great- they started laughing from the very beginning," he said.