form in the 1st century B.C. and included the stock characters in written verse. Later, the dictator Sulla wrote some Atellan Fables. The dramatist Quintus Novius, who lived and wrote 50 years after the abdication of Sulla, wrote fifty fables, including Macchus Exul (Exiled Macchus), Gallinaria (The Henhouse), Surdus (The Deaf One), Vindemiatores (The Harvesters), and Parcus (The Treasurer). When the Atellan plays were revived in the 1st century B.C. professional actors were no longer excluded from playing the stock characters' roles. Lucius Pomponius of Bologna, influenced by Palliata Fabius Dorsennus composed several Atellan plays, including Macchus Miles (Macchus the Soldier), Pytho Gorgonius, Pseudoagamemnon, Bucco Adoptatus, and Aeditumus. Quintus Novius and a "Memmius" also authored these comedies. Ovid and Pliny the Younger found the work of Memmius to be indecent. Pomponius is speculated to be the "founder" of the Atellan Farce plays. Controversy and suppression Taken from Tacitus ( Annals, Book 4): "...after various and often fruitless complaints from the praetors, the emperor Tiberius finally brought forward a motion about the licentious behavior of the players. "They had often," he said "sought to disturb the public peace, and to bring disgrace on private families, and the old Oscan farce, once a wretched amusement for the vulgar, had become at once so indecent and popular, that it must be checked by the Senate's authority. The players, upon this, were banished from Italy". Suetonius (Tiberius, 45, 1) reports that Tiberius himself was mocked for his lecherous habits in an Atellan farce, after which the saying "the old goat lapping up the doe" (hircum vetulum capreis naturam ligurire) became popular. In the 20s AD, the growth in popularity and revival of the Atellan plays met the disapproval of an older generation of patricians and senators. The performances became so obnoxious that, in 28 AD, all who performed in the farces were banished from Italy. The Augustan History records that Hadrian furnished performances of Atellan Farces at banquets. Contemporary comparisons Due to the outlandish nature and brevity that the Atellan Farces are believed to have, they are comparable to the sketches that one would see on a variety show such as Saturday Night Live or Whose Line Is It Anyway? Oftentimes the improvised play would center on an uncomplicated situation such as eating too much, becoming intoxicated or stealing. Such as in popular television shows as Saturday Night Live and Whose Line Is It