Nigel Ng Kin-ju is a Chinese Malaysian stand-up comic and YouTuber who became a worldwide hit portraying Uncle Roger, an alter ego. His newfound success has given him an estimated net worth of $500,000 (£262,000) in 2023. But as his fame continues to rise, many fans want to know about Nigel Ng’s background.
Early Life
Nigel was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Malaysian Chinese parents who were of Hokkien descent. His father worked as a car salesman, and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. Ng grew up with two siblings, a brother and a sister.
He enrolled at Northwestern University in the US after finishing Chong Hwa Independent High School in Kuala Lumpur in 2009. Ng majored in engineering and had a minor in philosophy.
The funnyman graduated in 2014 and began a career in IT, working as a data scientist. Nigel was self-taught and enjoyed learning about machine learning and Python. He even has his own GitHub account and made his last contributions in late 2018.
Comedy Career
Ng admires Hong Kong comedy actor Stephen Chow. He credits the legendary figure’s works with inspiring him to pursue a career as a performer.
As an aspiring comedian, Nigel did pretty well. He bagged the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year award in 2015. He was also nominated for a couple of rookie titles, such as the Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year.
In 2018, Ng made his television debut on Comedy Central’s Stand Up Central. He was also shortlisted for the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019 for his comedy sketch.
Becoming Uncle Roger
Ng is most known for his humorous character Uncle Roger, who talks in a Cantonese-like dialect and always wears an orange polo shirt. Before bringing the concept to YouTube, Ng built the persona on TikTok and Instagram.
Uncle Roger gained notoriety in July 2020 after posting a YouTube video criticism of Hersha Patel’s BBC Food tutorial on making egg-fried rice. Nigel was featured on BBC together with Patel after the video went viral.
Although Nigel Ng isn’t a chef, and he makes that clear with his Instagram bio, people love his critiques on famous professional culinary artists making egg-fried rice.
Current Endeavors
Now based in London, Nigel co-hosts the comedy podcast Rice to Meet You with Swedish comedian Evelyn Mok. But he has other projects that are yet to launch.
In his early days of complaining about cooks making egg-fried rice poorly, he made a video of Gordon Ramsay. But here, he praised the celebrity chef for doing it right.
This may have sparked something as Nigel Ng is about to start a sitcom with the help of Ramsay. They’re now making a television program for Uncle Roger with Studio Ramsay.
Personal Life
People sometimes get confused about Nigel’s personal life. That’s because he occasionally mentions his ex-wife Eva and Auntie Helen during videos.
However, it is confirmed that Auntie Helen is just a fictional character and Eva Steiner is his ex-wife. In April 2020, Ng revealed to YouTuber Shu that he was divorced in a food travel vlog. His ex-wife still lives in London and works as an Art Director for an advertising agency.
