Uncle Roger (Nigel Ng)

Uncle Roger is the Malaysian-Chinese comedy persona created by Nigel Ng, the Northwestern-educated stand-up comedian whose July 2020 critique of a BBC Food egg fried rice video turned him into one of the most-watched food YouTubers on the platform. Ng, born in Kuala Lumpur in 1991, has used the Uncle Roger character to amass 10.6 million YouTube subscribers, open restaurants in Malaysia and London, complete a world stand-up tour, and prepare a debut cookbook with a foreword by Gordon Ramsay slated for November 2026.

TL;DR

• Real name Nigel Ng Kin-ju, Malaysian-Chinese comedian born March 15, 1991 in Kuala Lumpur
• Studied engineering with a philosophy minor at Northwestern University, graduated 2014
• Created the Uncle Roger persona in July 2020 with a viral critique of BBC Food egg fried rice
• 10.6 million YouTube subscribers, 27 million total followers across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Threads
• Opened Fuiyoh! It is Uncle Roger restaurant in Kuala Lumpur in September 2024, Kawan by Uncle Roger in London, and the cookbook Dont Mess Up Your Rice publishes November 3, 2026

Key facts about Uncle Roger

Early life and engineering-comedy crossover

Nigel Ng was born on March 15, 1991, in Kuala Lumpur to Malaysian-Chinese parents of Hokkien ancestry. He has a younger sister Yoki and a younger brother Garry. Growing up he spoke Mandarin, Malay, and English, with the Cantonese-inflected Manglish accent that would later become Uncle Rogers signature already present in his teenage years.

In 2010 Ng moved to Illinois to attend Northwestern University, studying engineering with a philosophy minor and graduating in 2014. It was during his freshman year that he joined the universitys student stand-up comedy society, an aside from coursework that would slowly become his career. After Northwestern he moved to the United Kingdom and worked as a data scientist in London while building his comedy circuit appearances on the side.

Uncle Roger career timeline

• 2011 Joins the Northwestern student stand-up comedy society as a freshman
• 2012 Launches the mrnigelng YouTube channel while still at Northwestern
• 2014 Graduates Northwestern with a degree in engineering, moves to the UK to work as a data scientist
• 2019 Goes full-time as a YouTube comedian
• July 2020 Posts a TikTok then YouTube reaction to BBC Food host Hersha Patels egg fried rice tutorial, introducing the Uncle Roger character
• Late 2020 The BBC video goes viral, the channel crosses 1 million subscribers, Uncle Roger reaction videos targeting Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay follow
• 2022 to 2023 Completes a stand-up comedy tour spanning Singapore, the UK, and North America
• September 2024 Opens Fuiyoh! It is Uncle Roger restaurant in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, setting a Guinness World Record at the opening for the largest gathering of Uncle Roger lookalikes
• October 2024 Brings the Haiyaa world tour to Dubai Opera
• July 2025 Marries Sabrina Ahmed, a US-born lawyer, in a three-day Sintra, Portugal wedding
• February 2026 Announces he and Sabrina are expecting their first child
• November 3, 2026 Debut cookbook Dont Mess Up Your Rice releases, with 70 Asian recipes and a foreword by Gordon Ramsay

Uncle Roger signature style and the persona

The Uncle Roger character is, in Ngs own words, a composite of the kopitiam (Malaysian coffee shop) uncles he grew up with: middle-aged Asian men with strong opinions on food, a bright orange polo shirt, a fanny pack, and a Cantonese-inflected accent that pronounces “video” as “weejio.” The catchphrases are “haiyaa” (frustration), “fuiyoh” (delight or shock), and a running gag about MSG being the secret to almost everything. Recurring bits include hating induction stoves, loving live flames in a wok, and joking about being dumped by his fictional ex-wife Auntie Helen.

The comedy framework is reactive: Ng plays clips of cooking videos and lets Uncle Roger respond with bursts of approval or scolding. The targets have included Jamie Oliver (a repeated favorite), Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson, Rachael Ray, and the BBC. Behind the loud delivery, Ng has been careful about the character: in interviews he distinguishes Uncle Roger from Western caricatures of Asian accents by grounding the voice in his own pre-Northwestern Malaysian English speaking style.

Notable work: the BBC fried rice video and the restaurants

The single video that made Uncle Roger a household name is the July 2020 reaction to BBC Food host Hersha Patels egg fried rice tutorial. The complaint, that Patel washed the rice in a colander after cooking it, was framed as an Asian-uncle eruption of disappointment and racked up millions of views within days. The aftermath was unusually warm: Patel and Ng filmed a follow-up collaboration with the BBC, and the moment marked the start of the channels rapid growth from a few thousand to over a million subscribers within months.

Off-screen, Ng has built a business around the character. Fuiyoh! It is Uncle Roger opened in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in September 2024 as a fried-rice-focused restaurant, with the opening setting a Guinness World Record for most people dressed as Uncle Roger in one place. He also operates Kawan by Uncle Roger in London. The animated series in development with AI animation studio Toonstar and talent agency WME is expected to extend the character into longer-form scripted content, and the cookbook Dont Mess Up Your Rice (Nov 3, 2026) collects 70 Asian recipes with a foreword by Gordon Ramsay.

Awards and recognition

• 2020 BBC fried rice reaction video crosses tens of millions of views, launches the Uncle Roger character globally
• 2022 to 2024 First world stand-up tour, including stops in Singapore, the UK, North America, and Dubai Opera
• 2024 Sets Guinness World Record at the Fuiyoh! It is Uncle Roger restaurant opening for the largest gathering of Uncle Roger lookalikes
• 2025 Channel surpasses 10 million YouTube subscribers and 2 billion lifetime views
• 2026 Debut cookbook releases with a foreword by Gordon Ramsay, a chef Uncle Roger has frequently lampooned

Controversy and Asian representation debates

Uncle Roger has drawn criticism alongside its success. Some commentators have argued that the exaggerated accent and stereotypical polo-shirt-and-fanny-pack costume perpetuates the kind of Asian caricature that Western performers have used for decades. Ngs response, articulated in interviews with VICE and The Star, is that the character is rooted in his own upbringing in Malaysia rather than an outsider imitation, that Asian audiences make up his largest viewer demographic, and that the character allows him to talk about Asian food and Asian parents in ways that connect with Asian communities globally.

Separately, his social media accounts in China have been taken down at points after the character made jokes that touched on Beijing political sensitivities. Ng has continued to address both critiques in his stand-up sets, treating the controversy as part of the material rather than something to side-step.

Impact and cultural relevance

Uncle Roger sits in a small group of food creators who have built businesses substantially larger than the YouTube channel that launched them. The restaurants in Kuala Lumpur and London, the world stand-up tour, the cookbook, and the animated series in development with Toonstar place Ng alongside other YouTube food entrepreneurs like Guga Foods and Nick DiGiovanni who have parlayed audience scale into multi-format business empires.

The reactive critique format that Uncle Roger popularized has been widely imitated across food TikTok and YouTube. Ngs influence on Asian food media representation is particularly visible alongside creators like JunsKitchen on Japanese cooking and Sonny Side on Asian food travel, whose successes have collectively shifted what audiences expect from Asian food content online.

Uncle Roger FAQ

Who is Uncle Roger?

Uncle Roger is the comedy persona created by Malaysian comedian Nigel Ng in July 2020. The character is a middle-aged Malaysian-Chinese uncle who reacts to cooking videos, particularly Asian dishes, with strong opinions about MSG, fried rice technique, and induction stoves. Catchphrases include “haiyaa” and “fuiyoh.”

What is Nigel Ngs real background?

Nigel Ng was born March 15, 1991, in Kuala Lumpur to Malaysian-Chinese parents of Hokkien ancestry. He studied engineering with a philosophy minor at Northwestern University in Illinois, graduating in 2014, and worked as a data scientist in London before going full-time as a comedian.

Why did Uncle Roger go viral?

Uncle Roger went viral in July 2020 after Ng posted a reaction video to BBC Food host Hersha Patels egg fried rice tutorial. The criticism, that Patel washed the rice in a colander after cooking, was delivered in character as an exasperated Asian uncle and racked up tens of millions of views within days.

Does Uncle Roger have a restaurant?

Yes. Ng opened Fuiyoh! It is Uncle Roger at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in September 2024, focused on fried rice. He also operates Kawan by Uncle Roger in London. The Kuala Lumpur opening set a Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of Uncle Roger lookalikes.

Is Uncle Roger writing a cookbook?

Yes. His debut cookbook Dont Mess Up Your Rice publishes on November 3, 2026, with 70 authentic Asian recipes and a foreword by Gordon Ramsay. Ramsay has been a recurring target of Uncle Roger reaction videos, making the collaboration a deliberate full-circle moment.

What is next for Uncle Roger

Ng and his wife Sabrina announced in February 2026 that they are expecting their first child. The debut cookbook Dont Mess Up Your Rice releases November 3, 2026, with a foreword by Gordon Ramsay. An animated Uncle Roger series is in development with Toonstar and WME. Follow updates on his Instagram (@mrnigelng).