The Flying Karamazov Brothers
Encyclopedia
The Flying Karamazov Brothers (FKB) are a juggling
and comedy troupe who have been performing since 1973. They learned their trade while performing as street artists in Santa Cruz, California
. They began by busking
, but have gone on to perform internationally, including on Broadway
stages.
The "brothers" take the name of their act from the Fyodor Dostoevsky
novel The Brothers Karamazov
, and draw parallels between themselves and the characters of the novel. Though they refer to themselves onstage as "brothers", none of them are actually blood relatives.
The current members of the troupe are:
The troupe originally consisted of two members; "Ivan" (Howard Jay Patterson) and "Dmitri" (Paul David Magid), "Alyosha" (Randy Nelson) joined some time after 1975. One-time FKB crew member Timothy Daniel Furst soon joined the other three onstage and took the name "Fyodor". The line-up remained intact for several years until Nelson took a leave of absence for family reasons. He was replaced by Samuel Ross Williams ("Smerdyakov"). Nelson eventually returned and the group performed as a quintet from 1983 through 1989. Other members have passed through over the years, each taking a Russian name, such as "Misha Karamazov" (Paul Hudert, also known as Paul Garbanzo), and "Rakitin Karamazov" (Michael Preston). Preston was also seen in the film Eight Men Out
and directed one of the shows in the Karamazov repertoire.
In late 2006/early 2007 founding member Howard Jay Patterson ("Ivan Karamazov") announced his retirement from the troupe after 30+ years, which would leave Paul "Dmitri" Magid as the sole remaining original member. In mid-2007 Patterson was replaced by Nick Flint ("Maximov Karamazov"). Flint performed with the group for one year before being replaced by Stephen Bent ("Zossima Karamazov") in the summer of 2008. The troupe launched a new show in 2007 called 4Play. The Karamazovs debuted their new show Flings and Eros for four weeks in late 2009.
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
."
The Karamazovs performed a unique, broad adaptation of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors
at Lincoln Center. Aired live on the PBS program Live from Lincoln Center
, on June 24, 1987, the Karamazovs were joined by such "new vaudeville" acts as Avner the Eccentric
and members of the troupe Vaudeville Nouveau. The (at the time) five members of the Karamazovs all played major roles: Patterson and Magid as the twins Antipholus, Nelson and Williams as the twins Dromio, and Furst as William Shakespeare
himself. Their modern farcical take on the play managed to incorporate everything from juggling, acrobatics and faux knife-throwing to gospel, jazz and a cross-dressing brothel madam. Many jokes made reference to American culture of the 1980s. One running gag was that nobody can pronounce "Epidamnum," a place mentioned several times over the course of the play. After each stammering attempt, all onstage actors would stop, point toward the supposed location, then resume their activities.
"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.
The piece was formerly called "The Challenge".
s without breaking their juggling patterns. Most past and present Karamazovs are adept with a great range of conventional instruments, including brasses and woodwinds.
One of their most widely known musical performances is Rockpalast Night 8, held in Essen
, Germany, on March 28, 1981. The main acts were The Who
and the Grateful Dead
. The Karamazovs guested with the Grateful Dead on the "Drums > Space" part of the Dead's second set, performing their act while playing various percussion along with the Dead's drummers Bill Kreutzmann
and Mickey Hart
. The show was broadcast by German TV channel WDR
and has since become a classic of Grateful Dead bootlegs.
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 accelerometer
s, gravitometer
s, speed and position radar
, and radio transceivers that allow the equipment to communicate with each other as well as a backstage computer. The Karamazovs exploit this technology in continually 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.
Juggling
Juggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. This may be one object or many objects, at the same time with one or many hands. Jugglers often refer...
and comedy troupe who have been performing since 1973. They learned their trade while performing as street artists in Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
. They began by busking
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
, but have gone on to perform internationally, including on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
stages.
The "brothers" take the name of their act from the Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
novel The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger and completed in November 1880...
, and draw parallels between themselves and the characters of the novel. Though they refer to themselves onstage as "brothers", none of them are actually blood relatives.
Members
- Roderick Kimball (Pavel)
- Paul David Magid (Dmitri)
- Mark EttingerMark EttingerMark Ettinger is an American singer, songwriter, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, and juggler from New York City. He performs regularly as a member of the Flying Karamazov Brothers under the stage name Alexei Karamazov.-Background:...
(Alexei) - Stephen Bent (Zossima)
- Andy Sapora (Nikita)
- Steven Horstmann (Vanka)
- Michael Karas (Kara)
- Harry Levine (Kuzma)
The troupe originally consisted of two members; "Ivan" (Howard Jay Patterson) and "Dmitri" (Paul David Magid), "Alyosha" (Randy Nelson) joined some time after 1975. One-time FKB crew member Timothy Daniel Furst soon joined the other three onstage and took the name "Fyodor". The line-up remained intact for several years until Nelson took a leave of absence for family reasons. He was replaced by Samuel Ross Williams ("Smerdyakov"). Nelson eventually returned and the group performed as a quintet from 1983 through 1989. Other members have passed through over the years, each taking a Russian name, such as "Misha Karamazov" (Paul Hudert, also known as Paul Garbanzo), and "Rakitin Karamazov" (Michael Preston). Preston was also seen in the film Eight Men Out
Eight Men Out
Eight Men Out is an American dramatic sports film, released in 1988 and based on Eliot Asinof 1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles....
and directed one of the shows in the Karamazov repertoire.
In late 2006/early 2007 founding member Howard Jay Patterson ("Ivan Karamazov") announced his retirement from the troupe after 30+ years, which would leave Paul "Dmitri" Magid as the sole remaining original member. In mid-2007 Patterson was replaced by Nick Flint ("Maximov Karamazov"). Flint performed with the group for one year before being replaced by Stephen Bent ("Zossima Karamazov") in the summer of 2008. The troupe launched a new show in 2007 called 4Play. The Karamazovs debuted their new show Flings and Eros for four weeks in late 2009.
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 Jewel of the Nile
The Jewel of the Nile is a 1985 romantic adventure film, and a sequel to the 1984 film Romancing the Stone, with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito reprising their roles...
, the sequel to Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film was followed by a 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile....
. They also appeared as the Flying Sandos Brothers in an episode of Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
entitled "The Friars Club
The Friars Club
"The Friar's Club" is the 128th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 18th episode for the 7th season. It aired on March 7, 1996.-Plot:...
."
The Karamazovs performed a unique, broad adaptation of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
at Lincoln Center. Aired live on the PBS program Live from Lincoln Center
Live from Lincoln Center
Live From Lincoln Center is an ongoing series of musical performances produced by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with Thirteen/WNET in New York City....
, on June 24, 1987, the Karamazovs were joined by such "new vaudeville" acts as Avner the Eccentric
Avner the Eccentric
Avner the Eccentric is an American vaudeville performer, clown, mime, juggler, and sleight of hand magician. He played the title role in the 1985 film The Jewel of the Nile...
and members of the troupe Vaudeville Nouveau. The (at the time) five members of the Karamazovs all played major roles: Patterson and Magid as the twins Antipholus, Nelson and Williams as the twins Dromio, and Furst as William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
himself. Their modern farcical take on the play managed to incorporate everything from juggling, acrobatics and faux knife-throwing to gospel, jazz and a cross-dressing brothel madam. Many jokes made reference to American culture of the 1980s. One running gag was that nobody can pronounce "Epidamnum," a place mentioned several times over the course of the play. After each stammering attempt, all onstage actors would stop, point toward the supposed location, then resume their activities.
"Terror Trick"
Among their repertoire is something known as the "Terror Trick" in which they gradually introduce nine very strange items—a cleaver, a torch, a salt shaker, a ukulele, a skillet, a fish, an egg, a block of dry ice, 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. Post-9/11 the troupe stopped using the word "Terror" in the bit and replaced it with the word "Danger", although as of their 2008/2009 4Play tour, they had restored its original name."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 ounceOunceThe ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 28 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
(28 grams) - Must weigh less than 10 pounds (4.5 kg)
- Must be no bigger than a breadboxBreadboxA breadbox or a bread bin is a container for storing bread and other baked goods to keep them fresh. They were a more common household kitchen item until bread started being made commercially with food preservatives and wrapped in plastic...
- 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.
The piece was formerly called "The Challenge".
Music and technology
The Karamazovs incorporate music into their performances through the use of special clubs adapted as percussion strikers, allowing them to play drums and marimbaphoneMarimbaphone
The marimbaphone is an obsolete tuned percussion instrument, developed by the Deagan company of Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. in the early 20th century.The marimbaphone had shallow steel bars arranged chromatically with a tube resonator under each bar...
s without breaking their juggling patterns. Most past and present Karamazovs are adept with a great range of conventional instruments, including brasses and woodwinds.
One of their most widely known musical performances is Rockpalast Night 8, held in Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
, Germany, on March 28, 1981. The main acts were The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
and the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
. The Karamazovs guested with the Grateful Dead on the "Drums > Space" part of the Dead's second set, performing their act while playing various percussion along with the Dead's drummers Bill Kreutzmann
Bill Kreutzmann
Bill Kreutzmann is an American drummer who played with the rock band the Grateful Dead for their entire thirty-year career...
and Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band the Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 to February 1971, and from October 1974 to August 1995...
. The show was broadcast by German TV channel WDR
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
and has since become a classic of Grateful Dead bootlegs.
In recent years, the group has steadily added technological components to their repertoire, at times with the help of the MIT Media Lab
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
. Clubs, gloves, and other props and wardrobe can include accelerometer
Accelerometer
An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration, also called the four-acceleration. This is not necessarily the same as the coordinate acceleration , but is rather the type of acceleration associated with the phenomenon of weight experienced by a test mass that resides in the frame...
s, gravitometer
Gravimeter
A gravimeter or gravitometer is an instrument used in gravimetry for measuring the local gravitational field of the Earth. A gravimeter is a type of accelerometer, specialized for measuring the constant downward acceleration of gravity, which varies by about 0.5% over the surface of the Earth...
s, speed and position radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
, and radio transceivers that allow the equipment to communicate with each other as well as a backstage computer. The Karamazovs exploit this technology in continually 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.