Noah Munck
Noah Munck is an actor, born 1996.
For most of his childhood Munck was Gibby, the shirt-removing sidekick in one of the biggest children's sitcoms of its era, and then 'Naked' Rob Smith on The Goldbergs, which is more or less the same joke with better hair. Around those two shows the filmography is short and consistent in register: Tristan in Bad Teacher, Large Kid in All About Steve, leads in the Nickelodeon films Swindle and Nicky Deuce.
He was cast for a physical type and played it well, with a deadpan that made him a reliable scene-ender rather than the setup man. Being funny on cue in front of a studio audience as a kid is harder than the finished product ever suggests.
The interesting part of his career is not the acting. Munck makes music under the aliases Sadworldbeats and Noah Praise God, and produces independent comedy videos on YouTube in a style that has nothing to do with Nickelodeon: cut fast, deliberately ugly, aimed at an audience of exactly the people who grew up watching him. Leaving a franchise role to make abrasive internet comedy is an unusual move, and a more honest one than another sitcom.
Movies (6)
TV (2)
Where to start with Noah Munck
Everything runs through iCarly, and there is no substitute for it: Gibby arrives as a background oddity and gets promoted by sheer audience demand, which is the most interesting thing that happens to a child performer on a show like that. Its feature crossover, iParty with Victorious, is the maximalist version.
The Goldbergs is the adult continuation of the same comic idea in a much better-written show, and worth a look even if you skipped the Nickelodeon years.
For the films, Swindle and Nicky Deuce are lively kids' capers built around him, Bad Teacher is the studio comedy cameo, and Just Before I Go is the one serious swing on the list.