Yeah, I saw the viral video of "Uncle Roger" watching the fried rice video and was amused.
I see that this character by Malaysian comedian Nigel Ng has a new video out, and I have to say, while it starts slow, his interactions with (real or fake, I'm not 100% sure) customers often made me laugh out loud.
I think Nigel, who seems to have been around for a while (with what appears to have been moderate success - he has toured as a support act in Britain, for example) may have a major hit on his hands with this character:
I did have a look at some of his comedy videos the other day. He seems to coast by for almost entire acts for being good natured and teasing his guests. (The rice video is several minutes long but consists of precisely two jokes: 'RIP Rice 2020-2020' and 'that rice okay, but need MSG in it'.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what Asian people think of Uncle Roger - he seems to purposefully become an Asian stereotype for the act.
Yes - he is only mildly amusing in most of his videos and (from what I can gather - as I have only watched maybe 6 or 7), a lot of his act in stand up and in this Uncle Roger character is mocking or chiding white English culture and behaviour. I suppose in Uncle Roger, however, you could say he is getting away with stereotyping/mocking both sides simultaneously, which is pretty funny, I think.
ReplyDeleteAsian people born in Asia and/or not indoctrinated by western political correctness find him funny - I report from experience of people I know.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's actually a lot more to that skit that may be missed by people not of Asian background which is funny - the bit where he says 'uncle Roger put his leg down' - that alludes to a particular kind of Asian who sits with his leg up on the chair. the very exaggerated accent, the whole MSG thing i find hilarious, the delivery is as funny as the content basically. there's also a bit about measuring the level of water with your finger which all asian ppl do
Yes, I agree that half of the humour is in the delivery. I don't think there is any need to worry about that being not PC - just as it's still OK to find the accent and exaggerations of the overweening older Jewish American mother funny, AFAIK.
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