Juggling ain’t what it used to be. Time was (can you hear the creaking joints?) a juggler just stood, threw balls or other objects into the air and caught them, and was judged on how many items he could keep in motion.

Then came the Flying Karamazovs, a quartet of faux Russians who found that they could parlay a five-minute sideshow act into a two-hour theater performance by adding narration, dialogue and a story line, including audience participation.

The Karamazovs, back in San Diego after a 13-year absence, will appear in Life: A Guide for the Perplexed through Feb. 6 at San Diego Repertory Theatre’s Lyceum Theatre.

Life borrows from many literary works, including the Bible, Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man” monologue, Tolkien, Tennessee Williams and the code of Hammurabi (“Watch out!” says stuffy-nosed Pavel, a.k.a. Roderick Kimball. “Don’t get too close or you might catch Hammurabi’s code.”)

Yep, corny, but high-class cornball humor – the jokes are goofy but the references are literary and/or historical.

Life also borrows from Woody Allen, in an extended song-and-silliness bit called “We Are the Men of the Epididymis,” which pantomimes the sperm’s conquest of the egg.

The “plot” centers around an enormous book in Ladino (a fairly obscure language spoken by Sephardic Jews) delivered to Dmitri (Paul Magid). Dmitri converses with the book:

“Book, what are you?”

“I am what I am,” the book replies.

“Like what God said to Moses?”

“No, what Popeye said to Olive Oyl.”

What did I tell you? Goofy. But the book also contains the rules of life, such as Rule 5: “Life is improvisation,” and Rule 8: “You can never go home again.”

But I’ve almost forgotten the reason you’re in the audience: These guys can really juggle. Four-way juggling is common here, as is musical juggling, in which the men line up, each playing an instrument with one hand and either juggling or playing someone else’s instrument with the other. So: one guy fingers the guitar’s chords, another strums, one fingers the bamboo’s flute’s notes, the other provides the breath and juggles with his free hand.

Talented comedians, musicians and of course jugglers, the Karamazovs make Life a raucous, riotous romp that had the opening night audience laughing, clapping and stomping, not to mention aghast at what these guys can do singly and as a group. It’s not groupthink, it’s group play, and great fun to watch.

At one point, the audience gets to contribute items for Dimitri to juggle. The opening night crowd settled on a dozen eggs, a (dead) chicken and an open bag of flour. Take something outrageous and go see these guys. And remember Rule 17: “Every exit is just an entrance somewhere else.”

Life: A Guide for the Perplexed plays through Feb. 6 at the Lyceum Theatre in Horton Plaza. Shows Wed.-Sat. at 8:00 p.m.; Sun. at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.; matinee Sat. at 2:00 p.m. Jan. 22 only. For tickets: (619) 544-1000 or visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the Lyceum Theatre’s website.