Open Mic Night in Moscow: And Other Stories from My Search for Black Markets, Soviet Architecture, and Emotionally Unavailable Russian Men

The raucous and surprisingly poignant story of a young, Russia-obsessed American writer and comedian who embarked on a solo tour of the former Soviet Republics, never imagining that it would involve kidnappers, garbage bags of money, and encounters with the weird and wonderful from Mongolia to Tajikistan.

Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Siberia are not the typical tourist destinations of a twenty-something, nor the places one usually goes to eat, pray, and/or love. But the mix of imperial Russian opulence and Soviet decay, and the allure of emotionally unavailable Russian men proved strangely irresistible to comedian Audrey Murray.

At age twenty-eight, while her friends were settling into corporate jobs and serious relationships, Audrey was on a one-way flight to Kazakhstan, the first leg of a nine-month solo voyage through the former USSR. A blend of memoir and offbeat travel guide, this thoughtful, hilarious catalog of a young comedian’s adventures is also a diary of her emotional discoveries about home, love, patriotism, loneliness, and independence.

Sometimes surprising, often disconcerting, and always entertaining, Open Mic Night in Moscow will inspire you to take the leap and embark on your own journey into the unknown. And, if you want to visit Chernobyl by way of an insane-asylum-themed bar in Kiev, Audrey can assure you that there’s no other guidebook out there. (She’s looked.)

• Solo Female Travel: Follow a twenty-eight-year-old comedian who trades a traditional life for a one-way ticket to Kazakhstan and a nine-month voyage through the former USSR.
• Humorous Memoir: Laugh-out-loud stories about getting kidnapped in Turkmenistan, opening for a meditative drum circle, and dealing with garbage bags full of cash.
• Off-the-Beaten-Path Adventure: An offbeat travelogue that takes you from a secret museum in Uzbekistan to an afternoon in Chernobyl.
• Love and Loneliness Abroad: A poignant and funny look at independence for anyone who’s ever wondered what to do when your friends are getting married and you’re still obsessed with emotionally unavailable Russian men.

When people ask, I have variously described my trip as “like Wild, but in Turkmenistan,” or “like Eat, Pray, Love, but with yak-herding”

At twenty-eight, comedian Audrey Murray took a look around at her peer group—established in their careers, getting ready to take the next step in their relationships—and thought, “I should probably start to think about doing that.” Then she promptly boarded the next flight to Kazakhstan. 

A combination of Wild and whatever Netflix series you’re currently binging, Open Mic Night in Moscow chronicles the episodes of Audrey’s solo travels through the former Soviet Union—adventures that take her from a lookout on an American military base in Afghanistan, to a burning crater in Turkmenistan, to a wedding in Uzbekistan, through a Belarusian forest, to crossing Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway—and includes a cast of characters Tolstoy would have envied. But don’t worry; her book is 800 pages shorter than the average Russian novel.

Audrey’s keen observational eye and curiosity about human nature lead to fascinating excursions through parts of the world that are infamous to Westerners but seldom visited by them. Take the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant—do you assume, as Audrey did, that the Chernobyl accident took place in a place called Chernobyl? Read this book and discover whether or not that’s true (and more important, whether it’s safe to visit). 

Through her encounters, Audrey experiences a panoply of perspectives on being a woman traveling solo, on the concept of home and the idea of “settling down,” and the pros and cons of sleeping in yurts.

Open Mic Night in Moscow is the kind of book you will both want to devour in one sitting and savor—somewhat like a good blini.  

“Murray is a delightful and, yes, hilarious travel companion.” - Booklist

“A wisecracking travelogue.” - O magazine

“Murray turns what for many women would be a scary solo journey into an exhilarating experience.” - Publishers Weekly

“This is the hilarious and true story of what happens when a comedian decides to take a solo tour of the former USSR.” - HelloGiggles