Chris Parker

Chris Parker grew up in Christchurch with dancing aspirations, before attending drama school Toi Whakaari in Wellington. Heading to Auckland, he joined improv group Snort in its embryonic stages, which led to being cast as David Halls in hit stage play Hudson and Halls Live. Parker’s screen work includes writing and appearing in both Funny Girls and Jono And Ben; the latter featured his segment Chris Out Of Water. He's also acted in sitcom Golden Boy, co-hosted podcast turned web series The Male Gayz, and won the Fred Award for Best Show at the 2018 NZ International Comedy Festival.

It's fun to be at the Basement Theatre, joking with other queer audience members about stuff that they completely understand, but unless you can talk about that stuff to 'Bryson from Timaru' who's ... watching Jono and Ben and he might have some really problematic attitudes towards gay people ... unless I can write jokes for him and shift his opinion and his way of seeing the world, then I'm just gonna be at the Basement. And things aren't gonna change. Chris Parker on serving two audiences through mainstream TV show Jono and Ben, and with his queer stand-up, in an interview for 2019 TV series Funny As: The Story of New Zealand Comedy