Creator / Nigel Ng

"Hallo, niece and nephew, it's Uncle Roger!"

— mrnigelng as Uncle Roger

Nigel Ng Kin-ju (born 15 March 1991) is a Malaysian stand-up comedian best-known for portraying "Uncle Roger" and the cooking reaction videos he does in character.

Originally pursuing a career in data science, he eventually turned to stand-up comedy. He burst into fame by portraying Uncle Roger, a middle-aged curmudgeon with a sharp comment for everything. The character was originally created in the hopes of securing a sitcom deal but became an internet sensation when he starred in a video where he reacted in horror at Hersha Patel's fried-rice-cooking technique.

Since then, the character took on a life of his own thanks to his sharp tongue and strong opinions. This attention also raised Nigel's profile, allowing him to headline international stand-up tours and make public appearances both as himself and in character.

Today, Uncle Roger gonna react to these trope examples:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Some of those Uncle Roger roasts find his reactions amusing and appear in later videos to show there are no hard feelings, such as Hersha Patel and Guy Tullberg (the owner of Tracklements, the company that makes the chili jam that Roger hates so much).
• As Himself: Nigel occasionally appears in Uncle Roger videos as himself, playing the role of Roger's put-upon nephew who runs the technical side of the operation.
• Asian Speekee Engrish: Being a walking Asian uncle stereotype, Uncle Roger speaks in an exaggerated stereotypical Cantonese accent with broken English for good measure.
• Awful Wedded Life: Uncle Roger rails on and on about his ex-wife, Helen, and how miserable their marriage was. In one episode, Auntie Helen sends a kidnapper to tie up Roger and force him to review a Jamie Oliver video because she got tired of his constant insults.
• Berserk Button:
  • He's triggered by sloppy and incorrect cooking techniques both in and out of character. This gets especially acute when he's observing White chefs attempting Asian dishes and seeing how they get things completely wrong while being confident that they're being "authentic".
  • Uncle Roger hates it when people use olive oil in cooking^note olive oil has a strong flavor that alters the flavor of dishes and also has a low smoke point, meaning it will cause foods to burn if cooked too aggressively and disparagingly calls Jamie Oliver "Jamie Olive Oil" over the chef's heavy reliance of it.
  • He doesn't like chili jam because its combination of sweetness and spice ruins the flavor of dishes^note though he has to concede that it's good if used correctly, as he did when he visited the Tracklments factory. Other YouTubers use it or pull out a jar because they know it will get a rise out of him.
  • Using any wrong ingredients in a recipe will certainly set him off, especially if it's something that makes no sense in a recipe, like the aforementioned Chili Jam in fried rice. Even saying that one can use any kind of ingredient (like Rachel Ray and Gordon Ramsay using the wrong kind of noodles in pho or ramen/mie goreng respectively) will have him blasting the chef immediately.
• Black Comedy: When speaking with a man with a peanut allergy, Uncle Roger urges the man to just eat what he's provided as there's a hospital not too far away. In another video, the same man tastes (and spits out) Jamie Oliver's fried rice recipe and says that he'd rather eat a peanut-butter sandwich than have another bite. (The man, who's nicknamed "Peanut Allergy Guy", is the husband of Mei Mei's Elizabeth Haigh, or Auntie Liz.)
• Borrowed Catchphrase:
  • In "Uncle Roger RECREATE JAMIE OLIVER EGG FRIED RICE", Auntie Liz used the line "You hear sizzling, I hear my ancestors crying."
  • Gordon Ramsay used "Haiyaa!" in "GORDON RAMSAY CHALLENGE UNCLE ROGER".
    Uncle Roger: Stealing Uncle Roger catchphrase?!
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: If he says something particularly lewd as Uncle Roger, he'll drop the character and accent and look to the camera to apologize.
• Banned in China: invoked Nigel Ng was genuinely banned from entering China by the Chinese government after making disparaging jokes about the country and the COVID-19 pandemic. He views the banning with some pride but notes that it means he won't get to visit Wang Gang's restaurant.
• Bragging Rights Reward: If Uncle Roger is impressed by a YouTube chef's cooking, he'll grant them the title of "Uncle" or "Auntie". Some, such as Nick DiGiovanni and Joshua Weissman, take quite a bit of pride at this and genuinely react with fear when Roger threatens to rescind their status.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Haiyaa!" and "Fuiyoh!"
  • "MSG, King of Flavour!"
  • "Why so weak? So weak!"
  • "Use the right amount, not the White amount!"
  • "Sorry, children."
  • "Don't use vegetable, vegetable tastes like sad."
• Dirty Old Man: Uncle Roger lusts after younger women^note (in character, that is; Nigel is around the same age as most targets of the character's comments) and frequently makes inappropriate comments of what he'd like to do if he got the chance.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Uncle Roger's voice in his first video was a lot more relaxed than his usual quirky tone.
• Funetik Aksent: Uncle Roger pronounces 'video' as "weejio" and on-screen text will flash "weejio" to make clear he means to say it that way.
• Fun with Acronyms: Uncle Roger claims MSG stands for "Make Shit Good."
• Iconic Outfit: Uncle Roger always wears a bright-orange polo shirt with shorts when in studio. He'll don jeans if outside.
• Insistent Terminology: "Uncle" and "Auntie" titles are reserved for those who demonstrate genuine culinary knowledge and skill^note The one exception to this rule is "Helen", Roger's fictional ex-wife, who gets called "Auntie" by virtue of having been married to him. Everyone else is "Niece" or "Nephew" until they do something to change Roger's opinion of them, even world-renowned chefs like Gordon Ramsay^note who eventually earned a provisional "Uncle" title.
• Insufferable Genius: Uncle Roger paints Adam Liaw as this, as Adam often gets sidetracked providing detailed explanations about the techniques and philosophies behind cooking rather than actually cooking.
• Insult to Rocks: When a YouTuber uses a vacuum cleaner on packet rice in his intro, Uncle Roger has this to say:
  Uncle Roger: Uncle Roger think packet rice is so bad, vacuuming packet rice is showing too much respect to packet rice. The rice go into the vacuum, even the dirt inside the vacuum going, "who the hell is this? Why you vacuum this trash next to me?"
• Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Uncle Roger groups Malaysian, Chinese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese and even Indian cuisine together as simply "Asian", and will criticise Asian chefs who prepare food in a way he deems incorrect by telling them "you make our ancestor cry" regardless of their background. He appears to view Japan as somewhat distinct from the rest of Asia, though.
  • Subverted whenever he has to criticize a chef whose video he's currently watching for using an ingredient that's not local to the country whose dish they're making though.
• Limited Wardrobe: Uncle Roger claims he only has one shirt because he's thrifty.
  Uncle Roger: Uncle Roger love to save money. That why I only have one shirt! If you have more than one shirt, what are you? Millionaire or something? Haiyaa...
• Ms. Fanservice: He labels Nigella Lawson as this, noting a lot of her videos focus on making her look glamorous while cooking. That said, he still blasts her dubious cooking skills and makes jokes about her liking a certain white powder.
• Running Gag:
  • If Uncle Roger makes a particularly cutting remark, his videos will often cut to Steven He's Asian Dad character crying out: "Emotional Damage!"
  • He'll always make snide remarks to his ex-wife Auntie Helen at least once a video.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Core to Uncle Roger's characterization is that he's an older man who speaks his mind^note Nigel Ng based Roger on older men he saw while growing up in Malaysia, who apparently had nothing better to do than sit around outside all day and make loud, rude comments to everyone in earshot. It can be a bit hard to tell, at times, because Nigel Ng plays Uncle Roger without any old-age makeup.
• Self-Deprecation: As much as Uncle Roger will take shots at other people, he'll also make jokes targeted at himself, especially how much action he's not getting in the bedroom ever since Auntie Helen left him.
• Simple, yet Awesome:
  • Uncle Roger is a huge fan of Wang Gang, a Chinese chef who demonstrates extreme skill in direct, unvarnished videos.
  • He also became a fan of Esther Choi after she showed ingenuity to make the most of the $13 ramen ingredients she was given to make a decent ramen on an Epicurious video.
  • This is also the reason why he always pitches for rice cookers, as it eliminates all the "complicated" methods of cooking rice to make perfect rice.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis:
  • He (both as himself and as Uncle Roger) and Gordon Ramsay have developed a love-hate relationship and they occasionally trade shots at one another across various media.
  • Jamie Oliver drives Uncle Roger up the wall for promoting improper and flat-out incorrect cooking techniques with unearned confidence. If he has a chance to roast Jamie Oliver, even on an unrelated video, he'll do it.
• Technician Versus Performer: He gets annoyed at Westerners measuring ingredients in grams, claiming that true Asian cooking requires "feeling" rather than precise measurements. The one exception is Japanese cooking, where he will grudgingly allow it.
• The Tell:
  • If Uncle Roger is pleased by a video, he'll exclaim, "Fuiyoh!" If he's upset, he'll say, "Haiyaa!"
  • Viewers can tell if Uncle Roger is truly upset because he'll drop both feet to the floor.
• Third-Person Person: Most of the time, Uncle Roger would refer to himself in third person.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Egg fried rice, which is an Asian staple. He's reviewed multiple versions of the dish on YouTube and reacts in horror if someone overcomplicates a dish that's supposed to be simple.
  • MSG, which Uncle Roger loves for its umami flavor. He often urges his viewers to use it in place of salt.
• Trauma Button: Rubber gloves always make him uncomfortable since it always reminds him of the time he had a colonoscopy.
• Verbal Backspace: When Uncle Roger complains about chefs being wasteful with their food, he'll ask if they think it grows on trees. Sometimes the item in question really does grow on trees, in which case he will correct himself and ask if they think money grows on trees instead.
• Vulgar Humor: He makes a lot of dirty jokes in his videos, followed by him saying "Sorry children". Funnily enough, he met his match with Chef Nick DiGiovanni, who makes a lot of Double Entendre in his videos that Uncle Roger likes to call him out on.
• Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: As Uncle Roger, he wears his smartphone in a belt-mounted holster to show just how old and unhip the character is.
• You Say Tomato: Uncle Roger pronounces 'video' as "weejio". Even the on-screen captions will say "weejio" to confirm that's what he's saying.

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