The Evolution Of Nigel Ng, The Man Behind Uncle Roger

In 2020, when everybody was busy baking banana bread and whipping up Dalgona coffee, one man put on a collared orange shirt, put his foot up on his seat, then viciously–and hilariously–roasted a BBC Food host for rinsing rice after cooking and dumping all of it in a colander. The BBC video might have gone under the radar if not for Uncle Roger ripping the BBC Food video apart, pointing out the host's missteps in cooking egg fried rice.

The video has 39 million views as of this writing, and it remains one of the most iconic videos highlighting cultural differences between the East and West. It sparked discussions on the importance of awareness and respect among food content creators and propelled Uncle Roger — and the man wearing the orange polo, Nigel Ng — into global stardom.

How did the character of Uncle Roger come about? Who's the man who plays this ill-tempered Asian uncle who loves to scrutinize famous Western chefs and content creators as they cook Asian dishes? Is his accent real, does he really speak that way? Where did he come from? What does he do besides react to cooking videos on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok? If you ever asked one of these questions, this article is for you.

Nigel Ng was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur. He has two younger siblings, a sister named Yoki and a brother named Garry. In a YouTube interview with LADbible Stories, he says he had a pretty normal childhood by British standards (Ng was based in the U.K. when he gave this interview). He had friends in school and they often went to karaoke, for example.

Ng is fluent in Mandarin as his parents are Malaysian-Chinese. Of course, he is also fluent in Malay, having lived in Malaysia for 20 years before moving to the United States for his college education — a move that made him the "golden child" in his parents' eyes, he claimed in an interview with Ivy Ngeow.

If you haven't previously heard Ng speak before, the first thing you'll notice watching his interviews is that he sounds nothing like Uncle Roger. Sure, he still has a little accent or twang that comes up on certain words and vowels, but Ng has a rather neutral accent common among bilingual people who have lived in English-speaking countries for a long time. But when he's speaking as Uncle Roger, he adopts a Hong Kong accent (Ng says it's how he sounded before he moved to the United States) and injects Malaysian expressions into his vocabulary, like "Haiya...!" and "Fuiyoh!"

Nigel Ng attended Northwestern University in Illinois to study engineering with a minor in philosophy. But he wasn't just learning about coding and data science in college; he was also discovering comedy. "I started at university and then I realized I was quite funny at parties," Ng told Ivy Ngeow.

Then he found a student organization for stand-up comedy at Northwestern and signed up. It was around this time in 2011 in his freshman year that he first realized he wanted to do comedy.

"At an open mic at a coffee shop, you just went onstage. Nobody was listening, people are just on their laptops," he shared in his Wired interview. "And I got a few chuckles [at] my first gig. That gave me enough delusion for me to keep going."

Those few chuckles proved inspiring because Ng relished the experience of being onstage and getting immediate feedback and energy from his audience. It helped establish the foundation for him to pivot his career choices and eventually become a full-time stand-up comedian after graduating.

Nigel Ng didn't immediately get into comedy after graduation. In 2015, he moved to London and found a job as a data scientist at a start-up company.

In an interview with Talks At Google, he admitted to being a self-taught data science professional. He studied Python programming, machine learning, and statistics. Ng said he actually enjoyed the work, but it didn't stop him from doing stand-up comedy shows on the side.

His days became a cycle of working as a data scientist from Mondays to Fridays at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., then leaving at 6 p.m. to board the train and perform a stand-up gig two hours away, going home, getting in bed by 1 a.m., and waking at 7 a.m. the next morning. It was an exhausting schedule he repeated day after day for four to five years. But despite the difficulties, Ng persevered.

"Comedy was just something I wanted to do," he said in an interview with Mythical Kitchen. But he also acknowledged that the recklessness of youth may have also been a factor. "I'm young enough to [mess] up and still, you know, be OK, so why not give it a shot now?"

In his recent interview with Mythical Kitchen, Nigel Ng fondly recalls the time when he wasn't earning much yet as a comedian and could only afford a three-piece nigiri at a sushi bar in London. Gradually, he was able to afford five pieces, then seven pieces, until finally he could pay for a full meal.

As Ng's side gigs became more frequent, people from his full-time job were no longer OK with him taking so many days off. That's when he thought to give comedy his full attention.

It was "a calculated risk," he told LADbible. Logic dictates his white-collar job as a data scientist is more stable than a career as a stand-up comedian whose income would depend on the number of events he could book. Not to say that he was struggling to get booked: Ng debuted on television in 2018 at Stand Up Central by Comedy Central. He was also nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019.

Finally, in September 2019, Ng resigned from his day job, found an agent, and was set to start his new career as a full-time comedian. Unfortunately, COVID-19 struck only six months later. With everything closed down and everyone on lockdown, Ng found himself in a difficult and scary position of unemployment. He only had 10 months' worth of savings left in the bank; it was time to get creative and give social media a try.

In 2020, Nigel Ng and fellow comedian Evelyn Mok hosted the podcast, "Rice to Meet You," a show centered on Asian experiences in the modern world. It was Mok who first came up with the idea of a middle-aged Cantonese uncle named Roger. Ng developed the character further into Uncle Roger, describing him as "this middle-aged, curmudgeon uncle who just complains about everything."

What inspired the orange shirt? Ng asked his friends to text him photos of their dads and noticed that they liked to wear bright-colored polo shirts. On July 8, 2020, Ng uploaded the video that brought him global fame. It was of Uncle Roger, wearing an orange polo shirt, sitting with his foot up on his chair, and reacting to a BBC Food "weejio" of Hersha Patel demonstrating how to cook egg fried rice.

Aptly titled, "Uncle Roger DISGUSTED by this Egg Fried Rice Video (BBC Food)," it highlighted parts that are bizarre from an East Asian perspective, and for which Uncle Roger gave scathing but hilarious commentary. The most controversial one (so upsetting that Uncle Roger put his foot down) was when Patel strained white rice in a colander and rinsed it after cooking it in a pot.

The video went viral across social media, especially among Asian audiences. Uncle Roger was a fresh concept, and reaction videos at that time were just gaining traction. He was the right mix of sarcastic, rude, and funny, and audiences loved him for it.

Seeing the success of the highly viral egg fried rice reaction video, Nigel Ng released more videos of Uncle Roger reacting to people doing outrageous things while cooking, like tossing ingredients around the kitchen and flipping butcher knives. He also roasted celebrity chefs and food content creators. He criticized how they cooked fried rice and other Asian dishes, as expected. Fortunately, many took being on the receiving end of Uncle Roger's spicy reviews in stride. Some even got to collaborate with him in later videos.

Hersha Patel herself became a two-time collaborator of Uncle Roger's. They recorded their first video at Patel's apartment where she cooked fusion egg fried rice for Uncle Roger. For their second video, Uncle Roger toured Patel around Chinatown.

Gordon Ramsay is another famous chef Uncle Roger loves to roast. But he calls Ramsay "Uncle," a title of honor, because he usually gets his Asian recipes right. Ng expressed his admiration for Ramsay's genuine respect for other cultures and willingness to learn from local cooks in past interviews. He finally met Chef Gordon in 2024 and appeared as a guest in one of his videos.

Jamie Oliver, unfortunately, is on a different boat. Uncle Roger hasn't liked him ever since he watched the British chef add chili jam to his egg fried rice, and it seems that impression hasn't improved since.

As Uncle Roger's following grew, so did the opportunities for Nigel Ng to finally stretch his comedic legs. He returned to stand-up comedy, sometimes doing skits as Uncle Roger, but more often going onstage as himself. In 2022, he teamed up again with Evelyn Mok as the creators and writers of his sketch show, "East Mode with Nigel Ng," for Comedy Central U.K. As wonderful as it is to be Uncle Roger, there were limitations as to what he could do, and Ng had more to show his audiences.

The show gave him the opportunity to be creative. Some episodes are parodies of movies and television shows, others are satires about Asian parenting, corporate work culture, racial stereotypes, and other topics.

Each episode is two to four minutes long and a standalone sketch. There are episodes where Ng is only a supporting actor and in others, he doesn't appear at all. The episode "The Last Donut," for example, had an entire office floor of actors, and the two main characters — none of whom is Ng — did some funny but super cool action sequences.

These episodes showcased Ng's acting skills, and fans saw him as they never had before. Uncle Roger was a far cry from the suave Christian Wong in "50 Shades of Wong" and bibliophile Will in "Crush Landing on You." The series has sadly ended, but the episodes are still available on Comedy Central U.K.'s YouTube channel.

It turns out that 2022 was a great year for Nigel Ng, because not only did he have a skit show with Comedy Central U.K., but he also went on a world stand-up tour. Named after one of his trademark Uncle Roger expressions, the "Haiyaa World Tour" became a highly anticipated show as Asians all over the world looked forward to seeing Ng in person, and on stage as himself and Uncle Roger.

He toured all over the U.K., U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and of course, Asia. He went to Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Malaysia. He also brought his tour to Europe, including Denmark, the Netherlands, and France. Many of his venues were sold out, and the demand in some cities was so high that they had to add additional shows. In total, he did 117 shows in 20 countries, performing for over 100,000 fans in over a year. The tour was also picked up by Hulu, and in 2024, "Nigel Ng: The Haiyaa Special" became available for streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

While Nigel Ng was on his "Haiyaa World Tour," some of his jokes did not land well with some people — and in one instance, it didn't land well with China. In the Instagram clip he uploaded to promote his tour back in May 2023, Uncle Roger is interacting with an audience member from Guangzhou. Ng said, "China! Good country, good country!" while making a face that implied otherwise. He then made pandering jokes, even jokingly saying "One China!" after confirming that Taiwanese nationals were in the audience. "We have to say that now, correct?" he said. "All their phone listening, all their phone listening ... Long live, President Xi!"

His audience loved the jokes, but there were consequences. That very weekend, Ng's Weibo and Bilibili accounts were suspended and he has since been banned from both platforms. Weibo and Bilibili are the two biggest social media platforms in China, where Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are unavailable due to the government's strict censorship

This is the second time Ng found himself in hot water with China. In 2021, he filmed a reaction video on a dumpling recipe with fellow food content creator, Mike Chen. Chen is a known vocal critic of the CCP and its controversial policies involving the Uyghurs, Christians, and Falun Gong practitioners. Ng deleted the video the next day, apologizing for allegedly not knowing about Chen's political beliefs before collaborating with him.

How do you know that you've become world-famous? A food stall on the other side of the world dedicating a menu to you sounds like a good enough gauge. Uncle Roger grew so famous that a food stall in Malaysia created a breakfast menu in his name. But Nigel Ng has even more to boast about now.

In September 2024, he opened Fuiyoh! It's Uncle Roger, his very first restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. Ng invited a Guinness World Records adjudicator on opening day as he attempted to challenge three world records: the largest gathering of people dressed as Uncle Roger, most fried rice tossed and caught in a ladle in 30 seconds, and most eggs cracked with one hand in 30 seconds. He successfully broke two of the three challenges (he failed to beat the current record for one-handed egg cracking) and is now officially a two-time Guinness World Record holder.

"Never in my life would I expect this to be a reality," Ng wrote on Instagram. "Four years ago I was just a comedian making silly videos in my apartment. And now I have a fried rice restaurant that's going to get roasted by everyone Haiyaaa."

Ng has since opened branches in four more locations in Malaysia. He hopes to grow Fuiyoh! into a successful restaurant chain and eventually expand to other countries.

For many years, Nigel Ng had kept quiet about his romantic relationships and only hinted at a previous breakup in his earliest Uncle Roger videos. He would reference an "Auntie Helen" who supposedly left him for many funny reasons — a pun that he would later confirm to be based on a real-life relationship.

In Episode 104 of "Rice to Meet You," Ng was previously married to a white woman, wherein he and Evelyn Mok joked about how his ex-wife's Le Creuset lasted longer than his marriage.

Then in May 2023, photos of Ng holding hands with a lady in a subway made rounds on social media, sending fans and general audiences to speculate about his love life. Ng continued to be quiet about the matter until the following year when he uploaded photos of him with an unnamed lady (her face wasn't visible in the pictures) on Instagram. However, it wasn't until February 14, 2024, that he finally uploaded a proper photo of himself and his girlfriend Sabrina, officially making their relationship public.

Later that year, on his restaurant's opening day, Ng introduced Sabrina again to the public and invited her to come onstage with him and his mother. Finally, in March of this year, Ng and Sabrina announced their engagement by uploading beautiful shots of their pre-wedding photoshoot on Instagram.

From part-time stand-up comedian to full-time YouTube content creator, touring comedian, and restaurant owner, the evolution of Nigel Ng has been a pleasure to witness. Unlike some pandemic-era influencers who became famous overnight and fell off the limelight just as quickly a few years later, Ng's career flourished in the last five years.

One thing that has remained constant, however, is his beef with Jamie Oliver. But there is more to this one-sided feud (Oliver has never acknowledged Uncle Roger in his videos or interviews) than an Asian man finding something to complain about how a chef cooked his favorite egg fried rice. Oliver tends to stray from the original recipes of traditional dishes. He would change core ingredients, making beloved dishes like pad Thai unrecognizable. It shows a bit of cultural insensitivity, which is one of the things Oliver received criticism for in the past.

Ng has also been at the receiving end of similar feedback for making Uncle Roger speak broken English with a heavy accent. It allegedly subjected Asians to more mockery in the West. Ng understands these criticisms. However, he says he believes his work uplifts Asians instead of making them the butt of the joke. By injecting humor in his criticism of cooking videos that deviate from traditional Asian recipes, he educates viewers about genuine cultural practices, not only in Malaysia but also in other East Asian countries.