Everything in Russia is made of cement - phone booths, fence posts and light bulbs.
Sometimes travel is merely an opportunity taken when you can.
I don't have a disregard for my reader in humor pieces.
Russians don't complain, usually.
A book tour is not a good opportunity to let your mind wander. You have to pay attention, remember salespeople's and interviewers' names, succinctly summarize your book in a 'selling' way, and so on.
I think what is important for things to be funny is if you the listener, or the reader, get a chance to supply the humor of it yourself.