Karamazov Bros.’ ‘Le Petomane’ Is a Gas : Stage: The troupe premieres its new show, based on a Frenchman with an unusual talent, at La Jolla Playhouse.

In his end was his beginning.

True story: Joseph Pujol, a simple baker from Marseilles, achieved fame and fortune in turn-of-the-century France for a curious skill. Passing wind--without odor, on cue and on pitch.

He attached a long tube to his rear, and through it played “Au Clair de la Lune” on a penny whistle. He smoked cigarettes through the tube. Without the tube, he could extinguish a candle from a foot away and imitate the farts of a puppy, thunder, a bricklayer and a nun.

Pujol inspired Mel Brooks, who named his own character in the film “Blazing Saddles” after him: Gov. Lepetomane. And now he has inspired the Flying Karamazov Brothers.

Their “Le Petomane” will have its world premiere Sunday at the La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum.

Told from the fictionalized perspective of Pujol’s 101-year-old son, the play will re-create Pujol’s act, almost in its entirety.

One small change: Their Le Petomane will use his tube and penny whistle to play one of the voices from the sextet in “Lucia di Lammermoor” instead of “Au Clair de la Lune.” Le Petomane will also sing a second part, while the three other Karamazovs fill in the third, fourth and fifth parts. The sixth part will be left to the imagination.

The Flying Karamazov Brothers are four (unrelated) fellows famous for their juggling, jokes and other stage antics.

Two are original members of the troupe founded in 1973: Howard Patterson, who will play Le Petomane and his son, and Paul David Magid, who has written the script from a concept developed by the troupe and director Robert Woodruff.

Samuel Ross Williams joined the group in 1980. And Michael Preston joined in April, replacing Randy Nelson, who left because his back wasn’t up to this show’s challenges.

One such challenge is that little matter of re-creating Le Petomane’s act. This daunting role fell to Patterson after they all agreed that he was the most “dignified.”

Reproducing those exquisitely controlled emissions has required a great deal of rehearsal, Patterson acknowledged. A great deal of abdominal exercise involving sit-ups and the lifting of 10-pound weights with his stomach muscles.

But Patterson’s greatest challenge has been bringing himself to tell his parents just what part he is playing in the show--something he had not yet done late last week.

“My parents,” he explained with a sigh, “are still waiting for me to go to grad school.”

Parents and sons are one of the subjects explored in this “explosive” material. Louis Pujol, as the Karamazovs have envisioned him, starts off ashamed of his father, and doesn’t really begin to appreciate him until he becomes old.

The Karamazovs would like to get more respect, as well.

“When you tell someone you’re a juggler, they think you’re one step above a rat,” Magid said. “They dismiss you. The same thing happened with Pujol. When he farted, he did it with such skill and tonality that he also was serious about it. He considered himself an artist. He wasn’t a freak. We relate to what he had to go through.”

At the same time, Magid is very conscious that Le Petomane’s talent is not exactly high-brow.

“Our regular show appeals to just about everyone. It will be interesting to see how people react to someone farting on stage.”

They’ve already done a segment for some of the theater’s board members, which evidently went over well. And Patterson met privately with playhouse mega-benefactor Mandell Weiss (for whom both playhouse theaters are named). Since Weiss is 101 and Patterson is going to play a 101-year-old, Patterson thought he could get some tips.

“But, when I met him, (Weiss) said, ‘But you’ll have to play an ordinary 101-year-old. I’m not an ordinary 101-year-old,’ ” Patterson recalled with a laugh. Patterson worked that line into the script.

That sort of contribution isn’t unusual.

“There’s methane in our madness,” Magid said at one point, and as the others laughed, Patterson whipped out a notebook to jot the comment down.

Don’t be surprised if you hear it in the show.