Tuesday: Tartu for the Estonian show. Small crowd but still into it. A fun night also that Nigel Williams joined us to hang out. Everyone got the practise they needed for the night after..

Wednesday: Club Prive Tallinn. Our first big Estonian language show. A night to remember. We had the crew plus Estonian celebrity comedian Peeter Oja performing and the house came down. We showed them that stand up comedy can be funny in Estonian.

Stewart Johnson on stage at the “Stand Up Comedy with Louis and Eric” Estonian show

Thursday: Apollo Helsinki. Christmas party season in Helsinki and the crowd was rough. Really rough. Luckily we had Nigel Williams, who after 2 days of watching shows was like a pitbull unleashed. The crowd was drunk and yelling stupid shit and thank god we had Nigel there, anyone else would have died on their ass. My favourite part was when Nigel threw the mic stand across the stage. The drunks didnt shut up the whole show and afterwards when the main one was standing at the bar, I witnesses him pissing at the bar. Ill say that again. He unzipped his trousers and pissed at the bar. Welcome to christmas time in Finland. I also got to see Phil Schwarzmann again who was back in town for a few nights.

Nigel Williams on stage at Apollo in Helsinki

Friday: Tampere and Turku. Our 550km adventure started by driving to Tampere to do a private show for Intel. It was a fun multicultural crowd and Ahmed and I both had loads of fun. After this we drive another 2 hours to Turku for the main show there and it was a blast, cool Christmas crowd, drunk but not too drunk. Only one guy had to be forceably removed. That’s a good night!

Everyone did well this week: Stew, Janika, Andy, Andrei, Peeter, Ahmed, Ali, Nigel, Robert, Keiu and Derek. It was a great week I work with some great comedians here. So now its 2 weeks off to sit and think about 2012 and how things are going to be even better

Jesus the food in Latter is good, these were the best lamb chops I’ve ever tasted and they gave me a small mountain of them too. Norwegian lamb is the way to go, shove it up your ass Sam Kekovich

The weather in Oslo was perfect, not too cold but a nice layer of snow everywhere. I stayed down by the water and it was super pretty. Getting around Oslo is pretty easy. I like Oslo, its the perfect combination of Stockholm and Helsinki. Doesn’t have the attitude of Stockholm and has more nice old buildings than Helsinki.

Both nights the headliner was Dag Sørås, the best comedian in Norway right now and a bloke I’m happy to call my friend. In a country without much political comedy, he is slamming it to them and the crowd loves him. I also recorded a podcast with him about how the shootings have affected Norway, which you can find here.

I had fun both nights but the second one was definitely better, I had a second half slot just before Dag and I loved the rowdy drunk Christmas audiences. You don’t get many hecklers in Finland and Estonia and I loved facing off against some guys who were so drunk they could barely speak English. I had a load of fun and everyone was super cool to me.

I’m back in Tallinn now and I have a huge week ahead: Tartu, Tallinn, Helsinki, Tampere, Turku. If I can make it through this week the year is almost over.

Here is a video of the take off from Oslo airport today.

Part of working on their slides is not only getting the content and message right but then making the slides look pretty. For this I have been working with my designer guy, Kaarel Johannes and he has come out with some great designs, especially considering he has never worked on slides before.

I had a proud moment this morning when Meelis Resev, CEO of Priienergia delivered his investor pitch to us, using the new slides Kaarel had worked on and using the delivery techniques we had worked on. His presentation was very much improved and tomorrow he gets to do a real pitch in front of real investors with (apparently) real money. I think he is in with a good shot.

One of the rungs on the ladder to edible society advancement is the sushi train. Sushi itself is several runs below it. It’s easy to get someone up there rolling maki but sushi train is way more advanced, not only do you need to install the little conveyor to take the tasty morsels to hungry clients, you actually need a certain amount of clients to make it worth while. I was ecstatic, this discovery along with the first kebab store with a real spinning stick of meat heralds a true golden age of Estonian dining!

I LOVE sushi train. It combines two passions of mine, sushi and being delivered food automatically. Instant food and you can eat as much as you want stopping only when you feel like it, for better or worse. Sushi train is culinary power to the people. It is the ultimate in freedom in a new democracy. While the Finns feed their fat holes at the buffet, classy Estonians can have their foreign treats brought to them. The downside of sushi train is your hunger becomes inversely proportional to your wallet thickness. I had a feeling I would be leaving with a particularly thin wallet.

I started to wonder why sushi train had not been in Estonia before. Estonians in general are not good with the trains. Was it a problem that this pint sized express service was the most on-time train service available in the whole country? Maybe it was because trains in Estonia have sort of a bad reputation… from the occupation days. Could it be thought that the chefs were deporting these small tasty sushi pieces to the Sibera of my mouth? Don’t even start with the German speaking guy who joined me as the other only customer.

When I arrived I was greeted by the two ladies working there and I couldn’t believe it, they were genuinely Asian! In Tallinn! How exotic! They seem quite tan so I’m guessing south east Asian and not Japanese but hey progress is progress. I looked at the time and saw it was 10:50 when their opening time was 11:00. It was a cold day and I was very happy they invited me in and didn’t tell me to come back later because “kord on kord”. A new generation of stop assistant who doesn’t know what “kord on kord”* means! Literally. I’m not sure they speak Estonian.

Sushi train isn’t all fantastic however. The store is a bit plain and out of the way. If I know Tallinners, they like their stuff a bit trendy, a bit different, a bit less plain. Who can blame them, after 50 years of Soviet rule where “gray” was technically classed as a flavor you would want the same. It is in this respect that Sushi Cat has the upper hand. Bright lights, endless anime and odd pictures off the staff which makes it seem a bit cultish give it that extra touch of flair over this railroad establishment.

As I took another plate off the conveyor and jammed it down my sushi hole, it occured to me why this will most certainly be a success in Estonia. I have come in, sat down and got my food, all while having to only say 1 word of greeting to the staff. Service where you don’t have to interact with a person? I think we have a winning business model! Maybe the Japanese and Estonian cultures have more in common than we would think. The Soviet era kiosks that still dot Tallinn went half way to automation, they don’t have a robot but an old Russian woman which is quite similar in level of personalty.

The golden age is truly here. Now Tallinn has a way of buying food which will please the locals who don’t want to talk and the scared foreigners who are too stupid to.

* “kord on kord” is an Estonian phrase meaning “rules are rules”

My Finnish friend Jesse, knows how to knock back a drink

His mouth is on fire in this last shot.

 Josh Howie on stage at “Stand Up Comedy with Louis and Eric” in Tallinn

 Chezek enjoyes the massage chair at Giganti

Two gentlemen who clearly know shit about coffee machines. A stop off on the way to Turku for a show.

I got a flower as a gift

In Drink Bar you can wee and look at a picture of me at the same time

In Tartu and last night we were woken by some Russian guys yelling downstairs. Unfortunately my Russian is limited to 4 words. Dah, Nyt, Speciba and Sooka. The last two words are “thank you” and “bitch”. I swear I didn’t learn these last two words together.

It It has been another big week, 4 shows in 4 days: Tartu, Tallinn, Helsinki and back to Tartu again. Its the 4th day which wears me out, even though Ive managed to limit my alcohol intake to just a few beers each night, in combination with endless moving and not a piece of fruit in sight, it all takes its toll.

November and December are the business months for a comedian because of all the private gigs we get around Christmas. So this wont really let up until the new year. We have a cool private show booked on new years in Tallinn so that will sort of be a symbolic end of the race I think.

I took this photo at the Drink Bar in Tallinn show this week. I really like this one, it shows the crowd all packed in and having a good time. I know most of them are only smiling but that is having a good time for Estonians.

“Delayed Departure with Louis Zezeran”

I mulled a ton of names relating to comedy, also a bunch of euro names to reflect these are european comedians but eventually the theme of comedians on tour won me and the simplicity of this name.

The podcast has a new website at www.ddpod.com check it out!

My mate from home, Evin Donohoe performing in Möku in Tartu

This is where you do a bo-bo

Carving Pumkins for Halloween

Stew and Kairits kids, Ellis and Clara on Halloween

Henrik Blomkvist on stage at his great club in Stockholm, El Mundo

Evelyn Mok on stage at Mitt i Smeten in Stocholm