First and foremost, I was relieved to discover that I have been making egg fried rice properly all these years. I just want to get that one out of the way. However, I found that out definitively after I saw an article on MSN about how Uncle Roger criticised Jamie Oliver’s egg fried rice recipe. I’d not heard of ‘Uncle Roger’ until then.
Uncle Roger is actually a Malaysian stand-up comedian, based in the UK. His Uncle Roger persona is a viral hit on YouTube. His real name is Nigel Ng, and he is a data scientist by profession. He has won several awards since 2016 after making the switch to comedy, and has his own website. He’s been on various TV shows in the UK, including Comedy Central’s Stand Up Central and Mock The Week (BBC). His website has, in it’s copyright footer, ‘I made this site myself. Don’t be stealing’ (sorry, Nigel – I only stole a little bit),
Uncle Roger is funny, especially if you aren’t so anally retentive to take his comments as if they are serious, as some do. For example, while he is working in a fast food stall:
Why you no want peanuts
I’m allergic
Allergic to peanuts? Why so weak? How you raise family you scared of peanuts? What wrong with you?
You work here?
Yeah. Uncle Roger work here. Today first day. You got problem? Peanuts. Hospital very close, don’t worry.
And his positive critique of Gordon Ramsey’s egg fried rice is equally good:
Oh, my God, he yell at customer too. This amazing. Uncle Roger love yelling at customer also.
It’s bordering on the kind of humour we lost in the 70s and 80s. And it turns out Nigel is a pretty good stand-up comedian in his own right.
Comedy as a distinct entity has always been warped in my own mind. I won’t go into details, but I’ve always seen stand-up comedians as something that exists between other, erm… performances. Though let me just say I’ve only ever seen two stand-up comedians in my entire life, and both of those were over 30 years ago.
I’ve put him on my watch list. Once all this COVID malarkey is over. I’d like to go to one of his shows.