Nigel Ng to create an animated Uncle Roger series
Comic will use artificial intelligence to bring the story to life
Nigel Ng is making a Mr Bean-style cartoon for his Uncle Roger character, using cutting-edge AI to produce an origin story for his volatile alter-ego.
Announcing Fried on Instagram, the stand-up explained that the YouTube series would be set before Uncle Roger 'went viral' in 2020. That was the year the Malaysian comedian – while based in the UK – started portraying the agitated, middle-aged character in live-action videos critiquing Western celebrity chefs' cooking of Asian food.
Ng said he would drop teasers for the 12 eight-minute episodes later this year, and would continue to voice the character.
He told his five million followers that 'we’re busy developing the universe: creating the art style, writing the scripts, coming up with the characters, casting voice actors etc'.
In Fried, Roger is a restaurant owner and still married to ‘Auntie Helen’, who has been regularly referenced in the character's lore as his ex-wife. He also has a cat named Lucky and an arch-rival fellow restaurateur called Olivier.
'He was the same curmudgeonly uncle as he is now, but instead of making videos on YouTube, he runs a stall in a rundown local mall food court,’ Ng wrote. 'Can’t wait to share more with all my nieces and nephews!'
The series is being produced by the tiny LA animation studio Toonstar, which defends its use of AI as ethical. The company has just 20 employees but is represented by the powerful talent agency WME.
Ng previously shared animated versions of Roger's live-action critiques of the likes of Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson to his 10.5million subscribers on YouTube. And despite the use of the technology, he maintains that Fried remains his creative vision.
'People follow my YouTube channel because they like Uncle Roger,’ the comic told US business magazine Fast Company. 'They like how he thinks, they like how he talks, and the jokes he makes. People can tell it’s not a decision made by a committee. It’s this one person’s sense of humour.
'Probably not the best sense of humour, but it’s his sense of humour. Doing this animation, I need to bring that ethos.'
Toonstar has previously made a YouTube series based on the material of TikTok comedian Parker James, with StEvEn & Parker having 8.6million subscribers. The show has been translated into five languages and is in the process of being adapted for a smartphone game and a graphic novel.
The studio builds a bespoke AI engine for each series it develops, trained on art created expressly for that project. Fast Company reports that voices for the animations are recorded by actors in a studio but there is use of some AI-synthesised dialogue for filling in pickup lines.
Ng tried to make a live action sitcom with Roger in 2021, but was frustrated by the slow process, creating one draft script a year. But he said creating the look of Fried was much quicker. 'They either beam up some drawings to the screen or they print it out for me,’ the now LA-based comedian explained.
The expansion of Uncle Roger's world could also lead to a significant growth in the character's popularity. Despite Rowan Atkinson only appearing in 15 live action episodes of Mr Bean, there have been 160 episodes and a special of the character's spin-off animation. He has amassed 148 million followers on Facebook, 75 million subscribers on YouTube, 10 million followers on Instagram and 11.5 million on TikTok.
Ng also owns a chain of restaurants based around the Uncle Roger character in Malaysia.
- by Jay Richardson
Published: 23 Oct 2025
