May 3, 2014Watching The Last Polka was a fantastic experience. Libby and I were visiting some friends near Nashville and they told us about someone's basement that had been transformed into a cool little theater where they showed rare and bizarre films. To make a long story short, the owner of the basement/theater had found a bootleg DVD of a VHS transfer of the made for TV movie The Last Polka, which was basically an extended version of the SCTV skit mockumentary about the Shmenge's brothers, Stan (Eugene Levy) and Yosh (John Candy). Stan and Yosh Shmenge grew up in Leutonia (a small country with a curious lack of trees), where they danced, sang, played music, did magic tricks, and served as all-round performers for their parents and fellow countrymen until they were discovered and became one of the world's most cherished polka acts of all time. Together with Linsk Minyk (Rick Moranis) and the Lemon Twins (Catherine O'Hara, Mary Margaret O'Hara, and Robin Duke), the Shmenge's delivered a galvanic performance the likes of which the polka world had never seen before nor since. It isn't on DVD yet, which is sad, but if you are lucky enough to track down a copy somewhere it is absolutely worth it.
Speaking of tracking down a copy, the full movie is available to watch on YouTube. Here ya go:
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