"Those saying "Na zdorovie" while toasting will be banned from all further parties," warned Russia! publisher Ilya Merenzon in his invitation to a party celebrating the magazine's second issue. But, uh-oh: as soon as guests cleared the speakeasyish door of longstanding Soviet-themed nightclub Pravda last night and had martini glasses thrust into their hands, non-Russian revelers were immediately presented with a problem. What to say while raising one's glass? "[Something Russian and unpronounceable,] Ilya advised. "It means, 'let's get it rolling.' Nikola Tamindzic was there to capture the direction in which it rolled.

Ilya's 'na zdorovie' warning exemplifies the sense of humor that is to be found throughout Russia!: chidey and a little bit holier-than-thou, but evincing a willingness to teach curious Americans about Slavic stuff. But is this the sense of humor to be found throughout Russia, too?

I asked Michael Idov, Russia!'s editor, who was celebrating his magazine's success in a bespoke suit that he'd cleverly managed to finagle out of his other employer, New York magazine, by writing a story about bespoke suits. "It's sort of like the Jewish sense of humor, actually: shticky, vaudevillean," he said amiably before being dragged off to talk to some serious-looking older gentlemen who were consuming tray after tray of vodka shots at the back of the room. Maybe they have something to do with this beautifully art-directed magazine's somewhat inexplicable existence! Otherwise, it's unclear how a few ads for Russian airlines and tourism sustain the pretty publication, but no matter.

Julia Ioffe, who used to work for the New Yorker and who now contributes to Russia! in addition to her duties at a mysterious but fun-sounding Internet startup, had a different take on Russian funniness. "It's dark, absurdist, death-obsessed, sexual," she explained, and told us this joke:

A man is dragging his daughter up the stairs by her foot. With every step, her head makes a loud thump, and a neighbor opens his door and shouts at the man, "What are you doing? (pause) "Her hat will fall off!"

"Don't worry!" says the father. "It's nailed on!"

Julia also cautioned against dating Russian guys, implying that doing so might leave you "biting your elbows," which is an idiomatic Russian expression that connotes regret.

Something else that might leave you "biting your elbows": drinking more than one of the night's sponsored cranberry-vodka beverages. "I hate it when the free drinks are some kind of colored vodka," sighed Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici at one point, holding his purplish highball up to the light.

We'd been told that feted $600-tshirt purveyor Denis Simachev might attend, but neither he nor his hammer and sickle-themed designs were to be found. One bona fide Russian celeb in attendance was Andrey Bartenev, who was introduced variously as "the Russian Boy George" and "the Russian Leigh Bowery." He was wearing a hat with a big furry orange pom-pom and discussing 'The Blue Bird,' the play which he's in town designing the sets and costumes for. "It's very traditional," he said shyly.

Julia tried to explain Andrey's role in Russian youth culture. "They've only had about 16 years to catch up to us, so they went through all these phases really fast. Like, two years of disco, two years of cokehead 80's ... they're just starting to get the appeal of subtlety. They're like at the 1999 point now."

A combination of this nostalgic sentiment, the caviar-y appetizers, and the cranberry vodka made the ads for Russian tourism in Russia! seem more and more enticing on the subway ride home.

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