Jess for Laughs Brings Jess Salomon's OBSESSION to Montreal Fringe, Now thru June 23

Jess Salomon is fixated on presenting Obsession, playing from today, June 14-23 at Montreal Improv - a comedy hot spot for weekly classes, shows and the site of her previous Fringe show in 2011, Doing Good.

Obsession is a chance for Salomon to showcase the fruits of the four years she's spent on stand-up and story-telling stages organized under one driving theme, which also happens to be the driving theme of her life. While most of her friends are busy showcasing the fruits of their loins all over Facebook, Jess has been busy making jokes. And she's determined to show them off. Get ready for an onslaught that's so funny, smart, and adorable it'll make you look at your children with regret (if you don't already). Joining Salomon will be a variety of opening acts over the course of the run that will be doing obsession-related performances, including stand-ups, a story-teller and even a dancer. At the end of it all Jess hopes you'll be OBSESSED with the show.

The show is a comedic meditation on the idea of living obsessively. It offers jokes but no apologies. Salomon describes it as an anti-moderation manifesto for the modern age, "This is the starting point for a revolution against the tyranny of temperance and the pursuit of a balanced life."

To wit, when Jess Salomon landed in Montreal with her iPhone on 2%, she didn't go home to her apartment full of plugs and privacy, "Of course not - I scanned the airport walls like a true obsessive until I found a socket in a baseboard. Bent over, charging my iPhone, the sweet relief of the growing green bar sweeping over me, I realized that this was not the behaviour of someone in control of her life..."

Sure, she had managed to avoid crack all these years, but in fairness no one has ever offered her any*. Everything else she's come into contact with she'd become obsessed with, like her iPhone, garbage men, soap star Jack Deveraux on Days of Our Lives, human rights... EVERYTHING! She concurs, "Some people measure their life according to milestones. I measure mine according to my various obsessions. How do you live your life? Moderately? That's no way to live."

Obsession has it all: observational material about things we're all obsessed with as a society; personal moments where Jess tells you too much and totally loses the crowd by suddenly realizing, 'Oh wait, I guess that's just me... ' and crowd interactions where Jess will try to find out who's obsessed with what, leading to improvised, hilarious conclusions.

Jess Salomon is a former UN war crimes lawyer turned stand-up comic. Montreal Metro called her comedy, "charming and intelligent". She calls it, "raconteurish, personal, dirty on a good night".

*Not an invitation to bring crack to the show.

Jess Salomon's Obsession, presented by Jess for Laughs at the St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe Festival, will play Montreal Improv, 3713 St. Laurent #202 (just south of des Pins) on Fri. June 14- 7:15pm; Sat. June 15- 3:45pm; Sun. June 16 - 10:45pm; Tues. June 18- 10:45pm; Wed. June 19- 9:00pm; Fri June 21- 5:30 pm; Sat. June 22- 7:15; Sun. June 23- 1:00pm. Running time: 45 minutes. Tickets: $10.00/$7.00 for students (+ $2 service charge). To purchase: 514 849-FEST (3378), online at www.montrealfringe.ca, at the Central Box Office located at FRINGE Park (corner Rachel and St-Laurent) or at Montreal Improv as of one hour before show time.

A rising star on the Canadian comedy scene, Jess has quickly become a regular at clubs in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. In the U.S. she's played Caroline's, Stand Up NY and Chicago's Zanies Comedy Club. She is the co-producer of The Girl on Girl on Girl Comedy Show which toured the Northeast to packed houses in 2011- 2012 as well as this year's Kosher Jokes for the Halaladays tour in Ottawa and Toronto. She has produced and starred in her own sold-out Fringe show, Doing Good at the Montreal Fringe, appeared on CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight and in major Canadian papers such as The Toronto Star, The Montreal Gazette and The National Post.

After the Fringe you can catch Jess' monthly stand up showcase, 'The Peopl's Comedy', the last Wednesday of every month at Club Peopl, and during Zoofest, in French, as part of the 'Z'importés' show playing at Katacombes, July 18, 19, 25 and 26.

For more information, visit www.jesssalomon.com or follow Jess on Twitter @jess_salomon #obsession.

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