'Uncle Roger' finally meets egg fried rice lady, Hersha Patel. Will they get along?

You’ve definitely seen it by now. On July 8, Malaysian comedian Nigel Ng uploaded a video to YouTube, titled "DISGUSTED by this Egg Fried Rice Video". In it, Ng comments on BBC Food presenter Hersha Patel’s methods of cooking rice, using his comedy Uncle Roger persona.

“What she doing? What she doing? Drain the rice... oh my God! You killing me, woman!” exclaims Uncle Roger in a heavy accent, as Patel drains the rice with a colander. “This is not pasta!”

To say the video was popular would be an understatement. Ng’s video was shared all around the world, and as of now, has 9.8 million views on YouTube. It’s raised discussions on, among other things, food heritage and cultural appropriation, and was featured by media worldwide.

All the fuss was a bit of a surprise to Ng, who never thought his video would "rice" to such heights of fame.

“I never expected this level of virality! To be honest, I was happy if the video got 10,000 views. When I found it got big I was very surprised, and am so so grateful for this exposure!” says Ng in a long-distance interview from London, where he has been based since 2015.

“Mandopop artist David Tao made a Youtube video reacting to it (my video). I grew up listening to his music so this was pretty surreal. One of my favourite Youtubers Ozzy Man Reviews messaged me about the video too... which was insane.”

Ng admits he isn't a kitchen freak, but he can cook simple meals for himself.

“I think you can be creative! I love people who do new things with food, ” says Ng.

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Ng had been a comedy fan since he was a young man, enjoying comedians such as Russell Peters, Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy. In 2011, while in the United States to study engineering and philosophy, he decided to try out the Chicago stand-up comedy scene.

“I never thought I'd ever give it a go. I started doing it because friends at university told me I was funny and so I just did it at an open mic once, ” recalls Ng, who mentions his favourite comedians now are Mark Normand, Sebastian Maniscalco, and Nikki Glaser.

Ng later moved to Britain to work as a data scientist. Fate however, had other plans, and he became a full-time comedian.

Like egg fried rice in a wok, Ng’s comedy career really heated up. He won the Amused Moose Laugh-Off 2016 competition 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). He made TV appearances on Rob Delaney's Stand Up Central, Roast Battle and Mock the Week.

The highlights of his career have been opening for comedian Ken Jeong, and selling out shows in London, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Ng is also the host of "Rice To Meet You", a comedy podcast where he speaks about Asian culture with Britain-based Swedish comedian Evelyn Mok. It was during a recent May episode of this podcast where Uncle Roger was born. Mok was discussing a character for a sitcom script she wanted Ng to play.

“She came up with the name. But I came up with everything else: the accent, the attitude, the mannerisms. It wasn't super hard to play the persona cause I'm already an uncle on the inside, so personality wise they match up a bit, ” quips Ng.

Currently, Ng has no live shows because of the pandemic. He continues, however, to make new online content at his Rice To Meet You podcast, including monthly live podcasts where fans can come on a Zoom call with him and Mok. There’s also his Youtube channel.

Yesterday (Aug 9), he collaborated with Hersha Patel, the BBC Food broadcaster whose video started this whole egg-citing affair.

“She reached out to me on Instagram. She's the nicest person," says Ng.

And finally, a most important question: what is his favourite rice dish?

“Hainanese chicken rice! If you get chicken here in the United Kingdom, a lot of the time the meat is dry. It’s overcooked. Or just tough to chew. But for Hainanese chicken rice, the chicken is always moist, tender, cooked just the right amount, and silky. If anyone even describes chicken as silky! It’s delicious, ” says Ng.