The Flying Karamazov Brothers were conceived in the fall of 1972 and born April 23, 1973 (also the birthday of Shakespeare and the deathday of the same and Miguel de Cervantes) at a Renaissance Faire in California. It was there that founders Paul Magid and Howard Patterson performed a simple juggling trick and found, much to their surprise, that someone had put $1.65 into one of their hats that had been tossed to the ground. Upon seeing the unsolicited money glinting in the morning sun art and body and soul melded into one.

Howard and Paul honed their craft over the next two years and in 1975 began performing in theatres around their beloved University of California at Santa Cruz campus and on the street and at fairs. They were soon joined by Paul's high school best friend and best actor in the world (according to Paul) Randy Nelson and by juggler/technician, Timothy Furst.

In a dusty cornfield outside Spokane, Washington, they named themselves "The Flying Karamazov Brothers, after the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and took the names Dmitri (Paul), Ivan (Howard), Alyosha (Randy) and Fyodor (Tim - named for both the author and the father of the Karamazov Brothers).

They lived in San Francisco for a time performing on the street and in theatres ('76-'78). They had always thought of their art as an extension of theatre, an exploration of all the avenues that lead to the stage and soon they were performing in legit theatres.

1n 1980 they had their first big break by performing at the Goodman theatre in Chicago. It was a hit and soon they were playing in legit theatres across the country, including New York. In 1981 they picked up an Obie award for the shortest run the longest way off Broadway (at night at the Bitter End).

In 1981 Randy left the troupe for the real world and was substituted by the funniest guy on stage, Sam Williams as they continued to play big theatres in the US. They had their first run on the West End in London in at the Mayfair Theatre.

In 1982 they played BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) in 1982 and won critical acclaim in the Big Apple.

1983 they premiered their groundbreaking production of Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors" at the Goodman Theatre directed by Robert Woodruff. Randy rejoined the troop to for that show and remained for later that spring they had their first run on Broadway when they played "Juggling and Cheap Theatrics" at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

In 1984 they also performed Magid's musical version of the Three Musketeers, the The Three Moscowteers directed by Robert Woodruff. They also were America's representatives of classical theatre at the Olypmic Arts Festival in Los Angeles.