After a novelty act, one has a bit of variety, saying little (8)
I believe the answer is:
taciturn
'saying little' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'after a novelty act one has a bit' is the wordplay.
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'a novelty' becomes 'tac' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'act' becomes 'turn' (theatre).
'one has' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a bit' becomes 'i' (resembles t, a binary digit or bit).
'turn' put after 'i' is 'iturn'.
'tac' next to 'iturn' is 'TACITURN'.
'of variety' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for taciturn that I've seen before include "Talking little" , "Untalkative" , "Quiet and uncommunicative" , "Aloof" , "Habitually uncommunicative, saying little" .)