Uncle Roger is My Favorite Obsession on YouTube Right Now
Comedian Nigel Ng’s character of Uncle Roger is a positive and hilarious representation of Asian culture
Many on the Internet have basically said that Nigel Ng’s caricature of an accent from Southeast Asia is a racist representation of Asian culture. I strongly disagree with this sentiment. I’ve known many Asian people from this region in my life, my mother included, and I’ve heard the accent that Uncle Roger has portrayed and it is very close to the actual accent that many people in that region have. His following has grown to over 6.3 million followers on YouTube, myself included.
Uncle Roger also doesn’t negatively stereotype Asian people in general. He only speaks about positive aspects of Asian culture as he watches mainly cooking videos online. Sometimes, he watches other shows online but he focuses on cooking videos.
More specifically, most of his videos focus on Western chefs attempting to cook Asian dishes. It’s funny to watch somebody who actually knows what they’re talking about tear apart some of the professional chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay, and so on with their style of cooking certain Asian dishes.
The target of Uncle Roger’s insults mostly goes to Jamie “Olive Oil” Oliver. He gained this nickname in one of the videos when he used olive oil in his egg-fried rice. He even mentions Jamie Oliver when he’s not even in the video in question. Nigel, the comedian, lives in the UK and I hear that Jamie is a big deal out there. I vaguely remember him but now I definitely don’t really like his cooking, particularly when it comes to Asian cuisine.
In general, the people that many think of as the best of the best in their field fall flat when it comes to properly cooking Asian cuisine. As Uncle Roger would say, they put in the “White Amount”, not the “Right Amount.” Also, he uses the terms nieces and nephews for all of his followers and for all of the chefs that he watches that haven’t quite made the cut with perfecting Asian-style cooking and dishes.
The term Uncle and Auntie are only reserved for the chefs who cook Asian style the right way, especially Uncle Roger’s crush, Auntie Esther. He mocks the chefs who fall short using a food processor when the more authentic style would be a pestle and mortar and also when they substitute ingredients that aren’t typically found in the cuisine they are even cooking.
There was a time when Jamie Oliver was making “Thai Green Curry” and he put cilantro in it. “What is this, Italian cooking? Fuiyoh!!” Then there was the time on the show, The Kitchen when Geoffrey Zakarian made a “traditional Filipino chicken adobo” and nothing about his dish was even traditional and by the time it was done, the sauce looked way too thin and watery.
I love getting a chance to watch Asian culture, particularly food being shown in a correct but also positive light through the character of Uncle Roger. I guess I could see why some people think that the accent is off-putting. It’s not Nigel’s real voice and it’s a very strong, and seemingly stereotypical Southeast Asian accent.
That’s true but he comes from Malaysia originally. He probably grew up around people who actually have this accent now. He said in an interview that he drew inspiration from the character from many of his friends and family. He didn’t want to perpetuate any of the negative Asian stereotypes that are prevalent out there these days like that Asians eat dogs and cats or that they are bad drivers.
He focuses on other aspects of Asian culture such as using the oven as storage for pots and pans and how scraping a non-stick pan with metal makes Asian parents cry. He also notes that every Asian household has a rice cooker. All of these things are very relatable to Asian fans of the character.
As someone who grew up in a mixed household with an Asian mom, I can relate to the things that Uncle Roger says. I’ve even started developing some of his catchphrases into my vocabulary and definitely pay closer attention now to the professional Western chefs when they attempt to make Asian dishes. “Fuiyoh! Haiyah! Sorry, children, and so on.”
Uncle Roger is definitely a net positive to the world in portraying Asian culture, especially to the Western world, because he doesn’t resort to cheap stereotypes and jokes against Asian people. He focuses on delivering funny lines and keeps the audience engaged in the cooking and the technical aspects of it so that we can make fun of the errors they make along with him and learn more about the Asian culture in the process.
Plus, I think that I could totally rock Uncle Roger’s haircut and sleek and clean-looking orange polo. I’ll continue to watch and be entertained by every video he makes going forward. I’m proud to have Uncle Roger be an Asian icon in the Western world and all over the globe.
Watch for yourself and see how hilarious and amazing his channel is and why it’s so popular. Here’s the Jamie Oliver video that I mentioned earlier.
