After 55 years of bringing laughs to the Truckee Meadows, the Sheep Dip Show will hold its last performance this weekend. The final practice before the show occurred Wednesday night.

“Ladies and Gentleman the cast of Sheep Dip,” said Sheep Dip announcer and performer Ron Smith.

For Smith, it will be an emotional moment when he sends off the satirical political stage show Sheep Dip, for the very last time.

“I'm doing the end of the show and I've got to keep it together,” said Smith.

Sheep Dip is a Reno tradition that dates all the way back to 1964.  Once a year, cast members gather together to perform skits making fun of local political events and politicians.

“It seemed the gentlest way of giving a rough time to some our newsmakers,” said Smith.

The name of the group comes from the tradition of dipping sheep in a cleanser to send them on their way clean, after shearing off their wool.

“The vat of satire that we dip our newsmakers in is similar to the sheep. We dip them in satire, cleanse them and send them on their way to do it all over again,” said Smith.

It takes the entire year to write scripts and get everything ready.

“As Rowan and Martin came in during the late 60's we stole many of their production concepts of short quick hard-hitting stories. We also took production clues from Saturday Night Live,” said Smith.

Over the years, politicians have joined the Sheep Dip cast on stage. Usually for what’s known as the shaft awards. Those are the award given out for events that have happened during the year that tend to grab the media's attention.

“Mike McGuinness took over for what had been Senate Leader Bill Raggio, Raggio ended up giving McGuinness the Shaft Award that year. He came up on stage with a fake big ax in his back and gave him the award. Raggio then told him, 'those who receiveth the shaft, giveth the shaft,'" said Smith as he recalled the incident.

Organizers have decided to cancel the show, because of a current lack of interest in local politics.

“Younger people have very little interest in what’s going on in local politics,” said Smith.

For the nearly a hundred people that it takes to put the entire production together each year, and the audience, it is the end of an era.

Organizers say that in the 55 years the show has been in production, it has raised more than $300,000 for charities. The last two shows will be this Friday and Saturday in the Eldorado Showroom.