Who is 'Uncle Roger', the comedian banned on China's social media over political jokes?

Popular Malaysian comedian Uncle Roger has been banned from China’s social media profiles after he poked fun at Xi Jinping’s authoritarian government. The London-based comedian, whose real name is Nigel Ng, said that over the weekend his accounts on Bilibili and Weibo, where he has over 400,000 followers, had been disabled owing to a “violation of relevant laws and regulations." Notably, comedians in China are increasingly scared of the government’s increasing intolerance of stand-up comedy, which gained fame during the Covid-19 outbreak. Let’s take a deeper look at the comedian and his famous character. Also read: No Laughing Matter: Why a comedy firm is paying millions for an ‘army joke’ in China Who is Uncle Roger? Born on 15 March 1991, Nigel Ng Kin-ju, 31 is a Malaysian stand-up comedian and internet celebrity located in London, according to The Sun. He has become well known for his humorous persona Uncle Roger, which speaks with a heavy Cantonese-like accent and prides himself on several South East Asian stereotypes. The middle-aged Asian uncle character for a sitcom was brought up by his comedy partner Evelyn Mok with Nigel in mind. Nigel further refined the character on TikTok and Instagram drawings, before taking it to YouTube. In July 2020, Ng drew attention for his YouTube video critique of Hersha Patel’s BBC Food film on making egg-fried rice in the Uncle Roger persona. After the video went viral, Ng and Patel appeared on BBC together. In addition to Uncle Roger, Nigel Ng is also known for his TV debut in 2018 on Comedy Central’s Stand Up Central, hosting the comedic podcast Rice to Meet You with UK-based Swedish comic Evelyn Mok. In 2021, he even participated in series 19 of BBC Two’s Mock the Week. Also read: How Xi Jinping is challenging G7 dominance with a China-Central Asia summit The controversy Ng and his followers both believe that his account was blocked because of a clip he had posted a few days earlier on Western social media. The video, which served as a teaser for an upcoming episode, was posted to his Twitter account along with the message “Uncle Roger about to get cancelled.” A few days later, he uploaded a new copy to YouTube. In the video clip, which was taken from an unidentified stand-up performance, Ng, playing Uncle Roger, asks a spectator where he is from. The man responds, “Guangzhou, China,” to which Ng frowns and adds, “Good nation! “Good country! We have to say that now, correct? All the phones listening … this nephew got Huawei phone, they all listening.” “Long live President Xi, long live President Xi… phew,” adds Ng after carefully tapping his phone in his pocket. Then he scans the audience for those from Taiwan. “Not a real country. I hope one day you rejoin the motherland,” the audience laughs as he continues. Since Ng isn’t in China, he hasn’t made any direct remarks on the account suspension. He posted the video to Twitter in the early hours of Monday, writing: “For some reason, this clip got a ton of views this past weekend. I wonder why,” followed by a link to pre-order his upcoming performance.

Ng’s stand-up show will be released on 4 June, the anniversary of the 1989 slaughter of students and pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, according to The Independent. Ng has, however, dealt with China’s strict media environment before. He worked with YouTuber Mike Chen, a vocal critic of Beijing on Twitter, to create a video in January 2021 where they critiqued a dumpling dish. Eventually, the 32-year-old comedian pulled the movie and posted an apology on Weibo. “I wasn’t aware of his political thoughts and his past incorrect remarks about China,” he continued. Also read: G7 to focus on ‘de-risking’ from China: What does this mean and how it is different from decoupling? China’s growing intolerance of stand-up comedy The Chinese government appears to have targeted Ng as part of a campaign against comedians. People in the country are subject to harsh punishments, and recent events have given the industry a bad reputation. Last week, House, a Chinese comedian who made fun of the military, was detained for equating the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with a pack of dogs pursuing a squirrel. Li Haoshi made the joke after describing how two stray dogs he had taken in chased after a squirrel, reminding him of the proverb “Have a good work style, be able to fight and win battles.” The punchline is a phrase that Chinese president Xi Jinping used to praise the work ethic of the PLA in 2013. The company that employed him for the Beijing event was penalised 14.7 million yuan (~Rs 17.25 crore). “Stand-up comedy has been the last bastion in which people … can still enjoy entertaining commentary about public life,” Beijing-based independent political analyst Wu Qiang told Reuters, adding, “After this, the space for stand-up comedy and public expression, in general, will inevitably keep shrinking.” A Beijing-based comedian who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that several gigs had been postponed as a result of the incident. The director of the US-based China Media Project, David Bandurski, claimed that the Chinese government “fed an atmosphere of paranoia and fear over national security risks, defined so expansively that anything can be an attack. A punchline is treated with the same alarm as a real assault on the nation.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .