The Flying Karamazov Brothers

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The Flying Karamazov Brothers are a world famous juggling and comedy troupe who have been performing since 1973. They learned their trade while performing as street artists in Santa Cruz, California. They were the extremely popular while pursuing their busking career and soon rocketed to international fame in the world of juggling.

The "brothers" take the name of their act from the Fyodor Dostoevsky novel, The Brothers Karamazov because they see similarities between themselves and the characters of the novel. Though they refer to themselves as brothers on stage, none of them are actually of blood relation to the others.

Among their repertoire is something known as the "Terror Trick" in which they gradually introduce ten very strange items including a skillet, a fish, an egg and a bottle of champagne (which they call a "time bomb") then juggle them all at once only to end up cooking the fish and the egg in the skillet and drinking the champagne.

1 "The Gamble"
2 Music and Technology
3 Shows and Performances
4 Members
5 External links

[edit] "The Gamble"

They also perform a trick called "The Gamble" in which "the Champ" (portrayed traditionally by Ivan Karamazov, but more recently by Dmitri under advice from Ivan's doctor) will juggle any three items provided by the audience. The objects are chosen by the audience's applause. The objects provided must conform to the following rules:

Must weigh more than an ounce
Must weigh less than 10 lbs.
Must be no bigger than a breadbox
Must not be a live animal
Must not be able to stop the "Champ" from being a live animal

"The Champ" is also permitted to make no more than three modifications to the selected items (in total) to make them more manageable. If The Champ can juggle the items for an unbroken pattern of ten throws, he wins a standing ovation from the audience; if he fails in three tries, he receives a pie in the face.

[edit] Music and Technology

The Karamazovs incorporate music into their performances through the use of special clubs adapted as percussion strikers (allowing the Brothers to play drums and marimbaphones without breaking their juggling patterns. Most past and present Karamazovs are adept with a great range of conventional instruments, including brasses and woodwinds.

In recent years, the group has steadily added technological components to their repertoire, at times with the help of the MIT Media Lab. Clubs, gloves, and other props and wardrobe can include accelerometers, gravitometers, speed and position radar, and radio transcievers that allow the equipment to communicate with each other as well as a backstage computer. The Karamazovs exploit this technology in ever-evolving ways, ranging from music and lighting that change in response to throws and catches, to games in which the jugglers must constantly adapt their throws, patterns, and passes in response to cues that the computer chooses on the fly...often based on the computer identifying a juggler who's out of position and therefore unlikely to be prepared for a toss.

[edit] Shows and Performances

The Karamazovs perform a wide range of shows, including conventional narratives that incorporate juggling, "variety" shows that incorporate old and new elements from their repertoire, and shows backed by city orchestras.

The Flying Karamazov Brothers appear in the film The Jewel of the Nile, the sequel to Romancing the Stone. They also appeared as the Flying Sandos Brothers in an episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Friars Club."

[edit] Members

"Juglito ergo sum" - I juggle therefore I am

Roderick Kimball (Pavel)
Paul Magid (Dmitri)
Mark Ettinger (Alexei)
Howard Jay Patterson (Ivan)

The troupe originally consisted of four members; Ivan, Dmitri, Alyosha (Randy Nelson), and the ever-silent Fyodor (Tim Furst). Other members have passed through over the years, each taking a Russian name, such as Smerdyakov (Sam Williams).

One unlisted member is Michael ("Rakitin") Preston. Preston was also seen in the film Eight Men Out.