For the next six Fridays, a different comedian will perform in the student center’s Big Muddy room.

Before each comedian performs, there will be an informal Joke Off competition. Students can go on stage and tell their best jokes for prizes. In addition to the Joke Off, students will be allowed to sign up for five-minute Standup routines before the last three comedians in the series.

The winner of these will get a big mystery prize.

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The series begins tonight with the comedy of Maryellen Hooper, who has opened for Jerry Seinfeld and has also appeared on A&E’s Girl’s Night Out and An Evening at the Improv TV shows.

Michelle Malkin, chair in expressive arts at SPC, said of all the comedians scheduled, Hooper’s comedy is more straightforward. Her material doesn’t revolve around political or social issues, she said.

You won’t walk away trying to figure out life, she said. Her comedy’s about everyday life.

Next Friday, Chris Crazy Legs Fonseca, who has opened for Roseanne and Paula Poundstone, is scheduled to entertain. He has cerebal palsy and uses his disability as an advantage in his humor.

In the past, Fonseca has volunteered his talent to raise funds for various charities, including the Crested Butte Physically Challenged Ski Program.

Torian Hughes, a comedian who gives the audience his views of racial relations and the modern world, will perform Feb. 10.

Hughes, who has appeared on Comedy Central’s Comic Justice and was the featured performer at the 1994 Just For Laughs International Comedy Festival, draws references from Dant to Ren and Stimpy.

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Ventriloquist Lynn Trefzger, with the help of her numerous dummies, will give the next performance on Feb. 17.

Trefzger is a self-taught ventriloquist who can mimic the sounds of a telephone dialing, ringing and being answered, as well as muffled or distant sounding voices.

Leighann Lord, who admires the hard hitting work of Dick Gregory, George Carlin and Sinbad for their thought-provoking material, will go on the stage Feb. 24.

Malkin, a senior in sociology from Buffalo Grove, said Lord is a great comedian who is very politically based.

She does her comedy as an African American woman living in America, she said. You’ll leave her show thinking . . . she’s a comedian with an attitude.

In addition to film, TV and cable performances, Lord self-publishes the newsletter Comic Perspective in her native town of New York.

Pat McCurdy is the last of the last laugh line-up. He is a singer/songwriter/comedian that combines music with humor.

Malkin said he is a one-of-a-kind personality.

He takes songs from all generations and makes them extraordinarily funny, she said.

He sings tunes from early eighties TV shows and does them in a way that somehow makes everybody laugh.

The show starts at 8 p.m. and admission is $1. Free popcorn will be provided. For more details contact Michelle Malkin at 536-3393.