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Max Miller plays with Freud's obstacle: Innuendo and performance technique in variety comedy

Double, Oliver (2012) Max Miller plays with Freud's obstacle: Innuendo and performance technique in variety comedy. Comedy Studies, 3 (1). pp. 93-104. ISSN 2040-610X. (doi:10.1386/cost.3.1.93_1) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:31708)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/cost.3.1.93_1

Abstract

This article examines the performance dynamics of the variety comedian Max Miller's use of innuendo. I argue that whilst Miller's use of sexual humour fits Freud's basic model of obscene tendentious jokes, his techniques go beyond the forms of wordplay, which Freud discussed and are firmly situated in the performance itself. I draw on the various live recordings of Miller's act, as well as contemporary criticism, the 'Little Kinsey' report into attitudes to sexuality, and theories of stand-up comedy and popular performance to analyse how stage persona and audience-performer rapport were central to conveying hidden sexual meanings.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1386/cost.3.1.93_1
Uncontrolled keywords: variety theatre; Max Miller; innuendo; Freud; censorship; sexual attitudes; comic performance
Subjects: N Visual Arts > NX Arts in general
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The theatre
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
Depositing User: Oliver Double
Date Deposited: 17 Oct 2012 09:41 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:09 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/31708 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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