The Last Polka follows the life, careers, and final concert of Yosh (Candy) and Stan (Levy) Shmenge, two brothers from the fictional country of Leutonia who become the biggest polka duo the world has ever seen, presented as a mixture of live concert performances and filmed scenes.
The live concert in the film is a loose parody of The Band's concert movie The Last Waltz. Special guests and longtime Shmenge collaborators include The Lemon Twins (Duke, O'Hara and her real life sister Mary Margaret O'Hara) doing a medley of their "hits" and also Linsk Minyk (Moranis) performing a medley of road songs that culminates in a version of the Doors' "Touch Me".
One scene has The Shmenges performing in an outdoor stadium Michael Jackson salute concert, complete with glitter outfits, sequin glove, and a polka version of "Beat It".
The Shmenges were originally created as characters for the television series Second City TV and were also known on SCTV as The Happy Wanderers.
The Last Polka was produced for and first broadcast on the HBO cable network.
Both John Candy and Eugene Levy were nominated in 1985 for a Cable Ace Award in the Best Performance in a Comedy Special category.
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian who is best known for his work in Hollywood films. Candy first rose to national prominence in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its SCTV sketch comedy series. He rose to international fame in the 1980s with his roles in comedic films such as Stripes (1981), Splash (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Spaceballs (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), and Cool Runnings (1993). He also appeared in supporting roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Home Alone (1990) and Nothing but Trouble (1991).
Second City Television, commonly shortened to SCTV and later known as SCTV Network and SCTV Channel, is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe. It is a rare example of a Canadian show that moved successfully to American television, where it aired on NBC from 1981 to 1983.
Edward Mayhoff 'Ed' Grimley is a fictional character created and portrayed by Martin Short. Developed amongst The Second City improv comedy troupe, Grimley made his television debut on the sketch comedy show SCTV in 1982, leading to popular success for both Short and the persona. Short continued to portray Grimley on Saturday Night Live and in various other appearances. The character also starred in Hanna-Barbera's 1988 animated series The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, and appeared in Short's comedy specials I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood and I, Martin Short, Goes Home.
Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She is known for her comedy work on Second City Television (1976–1984) and Schitt's Creek (2015–2020) and in films such as After Hours (1985), Beetlejuice (1988), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Home Alone (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). Her other film appearances include the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest: Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006).
Eugene Levy is a Canadian actor and comedian. Known for portraying flustered and unconventional figures, Levy has won multiple accolades throughout his career including four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2011, and was made Companion of the Order of Canada in 2022.
Frederick Allan Moranis is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, producer, songwriter and writer.
David William Thomas is a Canadian actor, comedian and television writer, known for being one half of the duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. He appeared as Doug McKenzie on SCTV, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award out of two nominations, and in the film Strange Brew (1983), which he also co-directed. As a duo, they made two albums, The Great White North and Strange Brew, the former gaining them a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award.
Bob and Doug McKenzie are a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted "Great White North", a sketch which was introduced on SCTV for the show's third season when it moved to CBC Television in 1980. Bob is played by Rick Moranis and Doug is played by Dave Thomas. Although created originally as filler to both satisfy and mock network Canadian content demands, the duo became a pop culture phenomenon in both Canada and the United States. The characters became the focus of a bestselling comedy album, The Great White North, in 1981 and starred in a feature film, Strange Brew, in 1983. They were later revived for an animated series, Bob & Doug, which premiered on Global in 2009.
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has become one of the most influential and renowned in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.
The Earle Grey Award is the lifetime achievement award for television acting of the Canadian Screen Awards, and its predecessor the Gemini Awards. It can be presented to an individual or collaborative team, and may be presented posthumously.
Robin Duke is a Canadian actress, comedian, and voice actress. Duke may be best known for her work on the television comedy series SCTV and, later, Saturday Night Live. She co-founded Women Fully Clothed, a sketch comedy troupe which toured Canada. She teaches writing as a faculty member at Humber College in Toronto and had a recurring role playing Wendy Kurtz in the sitcom Schitt's Creek.
Juul Haalmeyer is a costume designer, best known for doing costume design on several iterations of SCTV. Haalmeyer also worked as a costume designer for many movies, television shows, theatre productions, concerts wardrobes for various artists and specials like Bridge to Silence, All My Sons, Long Day's Journey into Night, Noddy, the Shining Time Station Family Specials, Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales, Diamonds, Andrea Martin: Together Again, and Ghostwriter.
Club Paradise is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Robin Williams, Twiggy, Peter O'Toole and Jimmy Cliff. Set in a fictional Caribbean banana republic, it follows a group of vacationers' attempts to create a luxury resort from a seedy nightclub, and the series of events that take place.
Deadly Companion is a 1980 Canadian thriller film based on the novel The Three Roads by Ross Macdonald.
Andrew Alexander is an English theatre and television producer best known for his previous leadership and co-ownership of The Second City, and co-developing and producing the television show SCTV.
John Blanchard is a Canadian television director and producer.
Schitt's Creek is a Canadian television sitcom created by Dan Levy and his father, Eugene Levy, that aired on CBC Television from 2015 to 2020. It consists of 80 episodes spread over six seasons. Produced by Not a Real Company Productions and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, it follows the trials and tribulations of the formerly wealthy Rose family. After their business manager embezzles the family business, Rose Video, the family loses its fortune and relocates to Schitt's Creek, a town they once purchased as a joke. Now living in a motel, Johnny and Moira — along with their adult offspring, David and Alexis — must adjust to life without wealth.
John Hemphill is a Canadian comic actor, writer and producer.
An Afternoon with SCTV is an upcoming Canadian-American comedy streaming television special directed by Martin Scorsese. The special reunites the cast of Second City Television.
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