
The Polka King
Explicit content warning
12/12/23 • 49 min
Everybody polka! This week we discuss Jan Lewan, Grammy nominated polka artist turned Ponzi schemer, and Jack Black’s depiction of him in Maya Forbes’s The Polka King (2017). Was Lewan a contriving money hungry criminal or a man who found himself in too deep? We will let you be the judge.
Primary Sources:
American Greed Podcast: The Polka King Con
Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
Email us: [email protected]
TikTok: @criminaladaptations
Music: He_s Changing The Game by Darren-Curtis _ https___soundcloud.com_desperate-measurez_Music promoted by https___www.free-stock-music.com_Creative Commons _ Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)_https___creativecommons.org_licenses_by_3.0_deed.e
Everybody polka! This week we discuss Jan Lewan, Grammy nominated polka artist turned Ponzi schemer, and Jack Black’s depiction of him in Maya Forbes’s The Polka King (2017). Was Lewan a contriving money hungry criminal or a man who found himself in too deep? We will let you be the judge.
Primary Sources:
American Greed Podcast: The Polka King Con
Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
Email us: [email protected]
TikTok: @criminaladaptations
Music: He_s Changing The Game by Darren-Curtis _ https___soundcloud.com_desperate-measurez_Music promoted by https___www.free-stock-music.com_Creative Commons _ Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)_https___creativecommons.org_licenses_by_3.0_deed.e
Previous Episode

Lucy in the Sky
This week Ashley and Remi discuss Noah Hawley’s Lucy in the Sky (2019), a film loosely inspired by former NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak. Join us as we uncover the details behind the riveting story which dominated headlines. Spoiler: It involves much more than soiled diapers.
Primary Source:
Moore, K. Star Crossed: The Story of Astronaut Lisa Nowak.University Press of Florida (2020).
Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
Email us: [email protected]
TikTok: @criminaladaptations
Music: He_s Changing The Game by Darren-Curtis _ https___soundcloud.com_desperate-measurez_Music promoted by https___www.free-stock-music.com_Creative Commons _ Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)_https___creativecommons.org_licenses_by_3.0_deed.e
Next Episode

In Cold Blood
Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood captivated the world when it was published in 1966. Richard Brooks adapted the book into a movie under the same name the following year. This week we explore Brooks’s film and discuss how truly it portrayed the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family, perpetrated by Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith.
Primary Source:
Capote, T. In Cold Blood. Random House (1965).
Instagram: @CriminalAdaptations
Email us: [email protected]
TikTok: @criminaladaptations
Music: He_s Changing The Game by Darren-Curtis _ https___soundcloud.com_desperate-measurez_Music promoted by https___www.free-stock-music.com_Creative Commons _ Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0)_https___creativecommons.org_licenses_by_3.0_deed.e
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/criminal-adaptations-297157/the-polka-king-39582955"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to the polka king on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy