Minnesota comedy-singing duo 'Tina and Lena' set to take their final bow

After decades of lutefisk jokes and Ole and Lena stories, the Minnesota comedy-singing duo Tina and Lena are taking their final bow with a "Last HurraHa Ha" later this month.

Known as "singers with zingers", Annette "Lena" Olsen and Sue "Tina" Edwards, were high school classmates in Canby, Minnesota, when they began developing their Tina and Lena act, the duo's website notes.

“We called ourselves Tina and Lena,” Olsen told the Grand Forks Herald. “We are a couple of retired school teachers … because she doesn’t have any class and I don’t have any principles.”

The "motivational humorists" performed their first pun-filled show in 1984, and eventually committed to it full-time in 1990, the paper says, customizing their family-friendly act to their audience, which they say made it unique.

“We always sprinkle humor on everything we do,” Edwards told the Hibbing Tribune. “… And sprinkle in a bit of motivation too. We are motivation junkies in a way. We want to make the best of our one life here on Earth and to live it to the fool-est.”

Tina and Lena, both retired teachers, used real-life moments and audience participation to perfect their act, which they performed for 31 years in more than 20 states, reports note.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDA_lLjpklE

Tina and Lena have a handful of performances left before their "Last HurraHa Ha" Aug. 30, the website says:

• Thursday, Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Houston County Fair in Caledonia.
• Friday, Aug. 21 at 1 p.m. at the Martin County Fair in Fairmont.
• Saturday, Aug. 22 at 9:30 a.m. at the Bethel Lutheran Church Women's Event in Lakefield.
• Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Wood Lake Community Fair in Wood Lake.
• Thursday and Friday, Aug. 27-28, at 6 p.m. the West End Market State at the Minnesota State Fair.
• Friday Aug. 28 at 2 p.m. on KS95's Joe Soucheray Show, live from the Minnesota State Fair.
• Sunday Aug. 30 at 3 p.m. – Tina & Lena's Last HurraHa Ha Retirement Show – at the Alexandria Area High School Performing Arts Center.