The Red Mime of Milan by Charles C. Mann To Fo's pleasure, the Vatican described his play as the most blasphemous program ever broadcast; Zeffirelli said it should never have appeared on television. Their distaste was related less to the nature of the play -- unlike the United States, Italy has a strong tradition of anticlericalism -- than to the remarkable gifts of its star. Fo is one of the great performers of this century. In Mistero Buffo he had millions of people guffawing at his savage, relentless send-ups of the Pope, the Church, and the Italian power structure in general