Nigel Ng

Nigel Ng (/ˈnaɪdʒəl əŋ/; simplified Chinese: 黄瑾瑜; traditional Chinese: 黃瑾瑜; pinyin: Huáng Jǐnyú; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: N̂g Kín-jû;[3] born 15 March 1991)[4][5] is a Malaysian stand-up comedian based in the UK.[6] He is popularly known for his comedic character, Uncle Roger.

Nigel Ng
黃瑾瑜
Nigel Ng as Uncle Roger in Stockholm, Sweden, November 2020.
Born (1991-03-15) 15 March 1991
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
NationalityMalaysian
EducationNorthwestern University
Alma materNorthwestern University
Chong Hwa Independent High School, Kuala Lumpur
OccupationComedian, vlogger
Known forUncle Roger
Height177 cm (5 ft 9½ in)
RelativesGarry Kou (brother)[1]
Yoki Ng (sister)[2]
YouTube information
Channel
Subscribers3.24 million
Total views168.3 million
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers
Updated: January 28, 2021
Websitewww.nigelngcomedy.com

In July 2020, he went viral globally for his portrayal of Uncle Roger, a middle-aged Asian man reviewing an egg fried rice video. At the beginning of 2021, he had amassed over 157,899,974 views on his YouTube channel, 1m followers on Instagram and 97.7k followers on Twitter. He currently has 3.24m subscribers on his YouTube channel and 138k subscribers on his Bilibili channel.

In stand-up comedy, Ng was nominated for the prestigious Best Newcomer Award for his sold-out show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019, and then followed that up with another sold out week-long run at London’s Soho Theatre in 2020. He made his TV debut in 2018 on Comedy Central’s Stand Up Central, and has also appeared on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle and BBC Two's Mock The Week. He has been featured on Variety, CNN, BBC, the Guardian, SBS (S. Korea), South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and Global Times (China ).

Early life

Ng was born in Kuala Lumpur to Malaysian Chinese parents of Hokkien ancestry.[7][8] He studied engineering and philosophy at Northwestern University, graduating in 2014.[8] Ng has worked as a data scientist and has a GitHub page.[9] He is currently divorced.[10]

Career

He won the Amused Moose Laugh-Off 2016 and was runner-up in the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year 2015. He was also a finalist in the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year (2016) and Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year (2015).[11][12]

He has made TV appearances on Rob Delaney's Stand Up Central, Roast Battle and Mock the Week.[13]

He hosts the comedy podcast Rice to Meet You with UK-based Swedish comedian Evelyn Mok.[14]

Uncle Roger

Ng has become best known for his comedic persona Uncle Roger, who speaks with a pronounced Chinese accent and prides himself on many East Asian stereotypes. His comedy partner Evelyn Mok came up with the middle-aged Cantonese uncle character for a sitcom with Ng in mind, and Ng further developed the character on TikTok and Instagram sketches before moving the character onto YouTube.[10]

In July 2020, Ng attracted attention for his YouTube video critique of Hersha Patel's BBC Food video on cooking egg-fried rice in the Uncle Roger persona.[15] After the video went viral, Ng and Patel appeared on BBC together.[3] Ng has also collaborated with Patel on a video titled "Uncle Roger Meet Egg Fried Rice Lady (@Hersha Patel)" and has defended her after negative comments on social media.[16] In September 2020, he once again posted a critique video with regards to Gordon Ramsay's fried rice cooking, with him praising the latter for correct technique.[17] He reacted on a video of Jamie Oliver, criticizing him for his faulty method of cooking. He has made it clear that he does not want any of his viewers to spread hate towards anyone.

During late August 2020 to September 2020, Ng widely circulated photographs of himself shirtless to launch a new character called, "Daddy Roger" and to publicize his podcast Rice to Meet You.[18]

In January 2021, Ng apologised on the China social media platform Weibo and deleted a video, featuring fellow YouTube star Mike Chen - who has been critical of The Communist Party of China - stating, “I wasn’t aware of his political thoughts and his past incorrect remarks about China”. Ng’s move attracted criticism on Twitter. One user wrote that the comedian was ”disgracefully sacrificing his basic morality to pander to his China fans.”[19] Ng’s response included stating “I'm not bowing down to anyone” on Instagram and suggesting that instead of “sending me nasty things,” critics should just unfollow him.[20] In his first subsequent video as Uncle Roger, he said he would “keep making funny videos – no politics, no drama.”[21]

References
  1. Testing Jokes On My Brother | Nigel Ng | Comedians In Quarantine UK
  2. Testing Jokes On My Sister | Nigel Ng | Comedians In Quarantine UK
  3. "BBC不懂煮饭？网红吐嘈影片爆红 片中主角一同接受访问". BBC News 中文 (in Chinese). 29 July 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  4. Sathiabalan, S. Indra (29 October 2019). "Ng's a cracking success". The Sun Daily.
  5. Ng, Nigel (15 March 2011). "@njkian Thank you!!!!!! It's my birthday. I better churn out something impressive". Twitter.
  6. "Nigel Ng, comedian tour dates". Chortle.
  7. Lo, Ricky (14 October 2019). "Two Pinoys among 12 Asians in Stand-Up, Asia! Season 4". The Philippine Star.
  8. Ngeow, Ivy (7 June 2018). "Interview with Nigel Ng: Malaysian Comedy Sensation – WRITE NGEOW". writengeow.com. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  9. "nigeljyng - Overview". GitHub. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  10. "The real Uncle Roger: 6 things to know about comedian Nigel Ng". South China Morning Post. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  11. "Nigel Ng". Backyard Comedy Club.
  12. "Nigel Ng". Off the Kerb.
  13. Nigel Ng at IMDb 
  14. "Rice To Meet You Podcast". Rice To Meet You Podcast.
  15. Chalil, Melanie (24 July 2020). "UK-based Malaysian comedian roasts BBC Food host for cooking rice wrongly in fried rice tutorial (VIDEO) | Malay Mail". Malay Mail.
  16. "Uncle Roger Meet Egg Fried Rice Lady (@Hersha Patel)". YouTube.
  17. Sholihyn, Ilyas (22 September 2020). "Gordon Ramsay responds to glowing seal of approval by Uncle Roger for nasi goreng cooking video". AsiaOne. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  18. "Uncle Roger Instagram campaign Episode 72". Instagram.
  19. "'Uncle Roger' apologises and deletes video featuring fellow YouTube star who criticised China". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  20. "Watch this story by Nigel Ng (Uncle Roger) on Instagram before it disappears". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  21. "I'm 'not bowing down to anyone': Uncle Roger comic urges 'no politics' after deleting YouTube vid starring Beijing critic". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
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