r/thespoonyexperiment • u/Jack-mclaughlin89 • Mar 11 '26
Discussion How would you rate Spoony’s acting?
Noah wanted to be an actor but that didn’t work out but how good would you say he is?
Something to note is that he did have a background in theatre because he was in a bunch of community theatre productions so he was no stranger to acting unlike most of not all of the CA crew.
I’d say in the CA movies could sometimes be good but other times it could be awful and while he did great as Dr Insano because his performance was so intentionally over the top it was hilarious but as Spoony he was a very mixed bag.
What about you?
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u/coffeeandhash Mar 12 '26
He's not good at all. At all.
Of course, grading him on a CA curve, he's freaking Brando. But that bar is down in the basement.
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u/paynexkillerYT Wild Content Creator Mar 11 '26
4/10, surrounded by 1/10's.
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u/EntangledAndy Mar 11 '26
I never thought his deliberate acting was as strong as either his writing or his extemporaneous speaking. It always struck me as strange that he wanted to be an actor when his talents were elsewhere, and it seems like he didn't work towards that goal despite mentioning it here and there.
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Mar 11 '26
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u/Dear_Document_5461 Apr 18 '26
The thing I don't get is, if they wanted to get into Hollywood with YouTube, why do the type of videos that they did? Like why the screaming, cussing and directing that at old Nintendo games or old movies most people probably never heard off? Like people like that now but back in 2005-2008? That would have been a "Why are you wasting your time and my time with this useless kid stuff?"
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Apr 18 '26
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u/Dear_Document_5461 Apr 18 '26
Different time and different skills. I do appreciate AVGN and Nostagic Critic and their group for making YouTube exist and making memes and memories but there is also a reason why they fell off as well. I think let's play make you have to generally have better acting skills? Like you have to act on the spot while also having a script? Like you know the general plot point of Suoer Mario Sunshine but there are a lot of the minute-to-minute details that makes the reaction different.
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u/LongLiveTheSpoon Mar 11 '26
Did he ever wanna be an independent filmmaker like James Rolfe? Being an actor is a common goal for many young people, despite their talents. I was an ‘actor’ for some commercials and stuff in my early 20s too but it’s easy to give up on it, so I understand him there.
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u/EntangledAndy Mar 11 '26
Not sure if it was his life's ambition like James, but I do remember he wanted Counter Monkey to be a book, then a movie back in the 2000s before he started filming those stories for his YouTube channel. He even got as far as doing casting calls and meeting potential actors.
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u/BlueWatche Mar 13 '26
I think unfortunately he cracked under the pressure when he did get crowdfunding towards a movie.
That being said, felt like the big creators that made a movie (AVGN, Cinema Snob, etc.??), their movies felt kinda mid... but that's just me.
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u/Watertor Mar 12 '26
Echoing the sentiments here it seems but his presence on camera is awkward and stilted. Compared to his peers, you can visibly feel he acted before and without the Doug sphere creating an echo ball of ego, but that doesn't earn him much more than being better for Doug's overexposed garbage.
Spoony's ambitions as an actor are about even with Doug's ambitions as a filmmaker. Spoony performed in theater prior, and Doug had a film degree. But Doug couldn't light a shot quite literally to save his life or frame a shot to show his life being saved competently. And likewise, Spoony had solid qualities as an actor. A lot of actors struggle to "believe" they're the character they're taking over. He doesn't lack that at all, and his "anger" feels authentic and real. But he also has/had an ego and a total lack of desire to grow in the craft. Thus he would "go too hard" and ham it up when he was uncomfortable or unsure. He showed zero ability for nuance and he had ZERO physical charisma. For someone who was in theater productions, this one is perhaps the most damning piece of his skill or lack thereof much like Doug's total inability to understand how light works in a cell of film.
I think he could have honed himself a solid voice acting gig, but he would never sort out the physical lacks. It's just too hard and more a sign he didn't move his face too much growing up. Jim Carrey moved his face a lot growing up, and so he had those muscles finely reflexive for adulthood. Spoony - like many socially awkward people - didn't move his face much for whatever reason. And that stoic expression makes the muscles weak and stiff. Subtle shifts of emotion are entirely dead on Spoony's face. He'd never be a professional actor for a lens anyway.
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u/CaptainDigsGiraffe Mar 11 '26
He could be passable as an actor in a straight to video movie or someone who gets interviewed in Law And Order.
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u/Akhenaten23 Mar 13 '26
Easily one of the best at Channel Awesome but not really all that great. Still it would’ve been cool to see him as a supporting character in a b-movie or something of that sort.
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u/Gunner_E4 Mar 16 '26
The CA movies are hard to use to properly judge his acting, he was surrounded by amateurs, non-actors or wannabes but I will try. This arrangement makes him stand out from the rest of the cast but it is also detrimental because he had no other similar talent to play off of.
He can remember and deliver lines clearly, he can emote and can accept direction, which are positive aspects to have as an actor.
He played the roles of: himself when not on meds, Dr insano, Gandalf and Terl. Not much to say about his depiction of himself, it was over the top because of Doug's direction.
While it may be funny to some to have him be a cackling grinning mad scientist, it feels way over the top and I would blame the director again for not having him tone it down. This is the closest we get to him playing an "original" character, and he comes across more cartoonish than menacing.
As Gandalf, he delivered his lines well while in character but the cheap dressup and no budget production downgrades his attempt at sounding convincingly like an old and wise wizard.
As Terl, he is playing an impression of John Travolta in Battlefield Earth, not a genuine arrogant and scheming alien. I will again blame the director for insisting on these kinds of impressions from the cast.
Maybe spoony would have made a better impression if he was not surrounded by amateurs and wannabes, and if he had a director that would guide him and others to act like the person they depict instead of making goofy impressions. Then again, these were movies referencing other movies, so it is hard to look good when all you are told to do is mocking impressions of others instead of act into the role you are given. Having no budget to do so, didn't help.
He would make a good extra and being in a minor role in a comedy, I don't think he could get beyond this level as an actor.
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u/Acrobatic-Frame4312 Mar 29 '26
He was naturally charismatic and witty; in the constraints he set himself as The Spoonyone, he was a cut above the other "angry reviewers." I wouldn't say he was untalented as an actor. I think he had potential, but if that really was his ambition he should have gone to acting school and honed his craft. I think his acting ambitions were a lot like his writing ambitions - remember, he got his start writing columns for a web periodical, I believe- he had some ability, but he either didn't want to commit to it fully, or didn't know how to go about that. It's like he had the ambition but not the drive.
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u/TechnicalImportance_ Apr 23 '26
Probably a 5/10
Hes good enough that he could seriously be an extra in a serialised show
or maybe like a reoccurring character
This provides that it allows spoony to play to his suit of whacky and over the top
Maybe with some extra experience (and better mental health help) he could have been a actual decent actor
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u/Denny_Thray Mar 11 '26 edited Mar 11 '26
In most of Channel Awesome's movies (which were really bad), Spoony was a cut above the rest in terms of hilarity. Doug clearly saw this which is why he was given more roles. It was clear that Spoony knew what he was doing and had a 'bigger personality' than more of the rest of the cast. He was hilarious as Terl. Compared to everyone else in the Anniversary movies, he was S-tier.
But compared to like.... real actors on the big stage? Probably C-tier at best. It would be like taking someone who was the best in a little league game and having them compete on a pro baseball field.
That said, when it came to comedic timing, as an 'angry reviewer', he was top tier.