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‘Deliberately Shaped for Fun by the High Gods’: Little Tich, Size and Respectability in the Music Hall

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Victorian Comedy and Laughter

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Abstract

Little Tich (1867–1928) became one of the most popular comedians of the music-hall partly by playing on the fact that he was only 4’6” tall. This chapter charts the extent of Tich’s success, highlighting both his financial earnings and a level a fame that saw him adding a word to the English language. It considers hierarchies within popular entertainment, and Tich’s desire to avoid being associated with freak shows, which occupied a lowlier position than music hall. It draws on film, audio recordings and contemporary written accounts to analyse his performance style, and discusses the tension between his desire for respectability offstage and his willingness to make fun of his physical unusualness onstage—connecting this to the inherent ambiguity of music-hall comedy.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Arts, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Oliver Double

Authors
  1. Oliver Double
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English and Creative Writing, University of Roehampton, London, UK

    Louise Lee

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Double, O. (2020). ‘Deliberately Shaped for Fun by the High Gods’: Little Tich, Size and Respectability in the Music Hall. In: Lee, L. (eds) Victorian Comedy and Laughter. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57882-2_9

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