Fo’s first theatrical experience was collaborating on satirical revues for small cabarets and theatres. He and his wife, the actress Franca Rame, produced (1962) humorous sketches on the television show Canzonissima that soon made them popular public personalities. They founded the theatre companies Campagnia Dario Fo–Franca Rame (1958), Nuova Scena (1968), and Collettivo Teatrale La Comune (1970), developing an agitprop theatre of politics, often blasphemous and scatological but rooted in the tradition of commedia dell’arte and blended with what Fo called “unofficial leftism.” With the latter troupe they began to tour factories, parks, and gymnasiums. Fo wrote more than 80 plays, coauthoring some of them with Rame. Among his most popular plays are Morte accidentale di un anarchico (1970; Accidental Death of an Anarchist) and Non si paga, non si paga! (1974; We Can’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!). As a performer, Fo is best known for his solo tour de force Mistero Buffo (1973; “Comic Mystery”), based on medieval mystery plays but so topical that the shows changed with each audience.