After Twain had gathered notoriety as a newspaper writer, he began performing lectures around the world in 1866. These lectures included Twain’s usual humor and often found some basis in whatever book he was writing at the time. Twain had an established love-hate relationship with touring and he often spoke of retiring from performing, though he never did. This is partly because of Twain’s debts that he built up over the years of unsuccessful investments – it was public news that Twain did his Tour Around the World because he owed creditors a large amount of money.
     For whatever reason that he performed on stage, Twain’s lectures were hugely popular. Twain filled his performances with short excerpts from his books and sprinkled them with anecdotes, leaving the audience in stitches. If reading his novels was enjoyable, then listening to his lectures went above and beyond that. These lectures also proved to be excellent advertisements for his published works, and his success allowed him to return to solvency. 

     Here is an excerpt from Twain’s lecture “Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands” (his favorite) from his 1869-1870 tour:

A Kanaka will eat anything he can bite–a live fish, scales and all, which must be rather annoying to the fish, but the Kanaka doesn’t mind that. It used to be said that the Kanakas were cannibals, but that was a slander. They didn’t eat Captain Cook–or if they did, it was only for fun. There was one instance of cannibalism. A foreigner, from the South Pacific Islands, set up an office and did eat a good many Kanakas. He was a useful citizen, but had strong political prejudices and used to save up a good appetite for just before election, so that he could thin out the Democratic vote.
At this point in my lecture, in other cities, I usually illustrate cannibalism, but I am a stranger here and don’t feel like taking liberties. Still, if any one in the audience will lend me an infant, I will illustrate the matter. But it is of no consequence–it don’t matter. I know children have become scarce and high, owing to the inattention they have received since the women’s rights movement began. I will leave out that part of my program, though it is very neat and pleasant. Yet it is not necessary. I am not hungry.

     His favorite lecture came from his first tour, called “Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands.” It is based off of his travels to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), and he performed it over a span of seven years.
     The American Vandal Tour lasted from 1868-1869 and was largely based off of his novel The Innocents Abroad
     Twain’s third Eastern tour during the early ‘70s began with a lecture on Artemus Ward (fellow American author) but that topic was quickly replaced with excerpts from Roughing It, which was being written at the time.
     Twain’s next tour didn’t occur until the mid-80s, when he performed with George Washington Cable and used excerpts from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain and Cable were billed as “The Twins of Genius.”
     Twain’s final and longest Tour Around the World didn’t focus on any specific text but was comprised of hilarious anecdotes and reflections on his literary career.