He's the Kiwi comedian who won New Zealand over with his hilarious videos during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Post-pandemic, he's still a hit. Here he opens up about life since becoming a social media sensation, his love for performing - and how it all started.
Chris Parker is in a good place. He's married, planning a honeymoon and touring his comedy show all around New Zealand.
"It feels like really grown up, boring stuff," he says.
Sitting in a vacant space between two TVNZ hallways, Parker is every bit as funny as in his social media videos. He's upbeat, overly pleasant - and hilarious anecdotes fly out his mouth in rapid succession whether he intends them to land or not. They do.
"I will literally get a life lesson out of anything, in many ways, it could be going down to get a coffee and I'll be like 'oh I really learned a lot about myself today'," he says with a pizzazz that triggers wide smiles from anyone with earshot.
The Kiwi comedian has an innate way of bringing joy to others - and it's not hard to tell why.
There's hand gestures, extravagant stories and random throwaway gags that hold equal doses of entertainment, originality and accuracy.
A millennial himself, he says: "I feel like millennials are out of their flop era and are coming into their thriving era... we might in fact own property one day."
“"I'm not really good at much but what I am good at is making jokes, or goofing off or showing off"
Parker's popularity soared during Covid-19 lockdowns, and post-pandemic, fans still can't get enough.
"When I meet people they're like 'thank you so much for your videos during that time, it really got me through', and I was like: 'Oh I don't know if it did'," he says.
"It felt like a really good application of my skill set and it landed somewhere. It was like a three-minute distraction, but everyone was so on their phones, right? Just glued to it, we were just glued to keep ourselves entertained because life was so stressful but also boring at the same time.
The Kiwi comedian won New Zealand over during the lockdowns. (Source: 1News)
"It was such a weird way of being - but then also, it's not like I was out and about seeing the effect of what I was doing because I was locked inside my house.
"I was just having this experience on my own, isolating, so it's only really now that I'm out in the world that people really talk about it."
His social media channels today reflect the interest he's picked up. He boasts over 100,000 followers on his Instagram alone, with his reels averaging between 50,000 and 200,000 views each.
Despite pulling in big audiences, Parker remains as grounded as ever. He's aware his humour reaches so many people but acknowledges it casually.
"I'm not really good at much but what I am good at is making jokes, or goofing off or showing off," he says.
"I did notice there was a big uptake, but also everyone was online all the time. Treasure Island happened at the same time. It was kind of mad really."
His appearance on Celebrity Treasure Island was sure to have impacted his star power.
Parker showed grit and charisma to survive to the very end of the series before taking out the win.
Iconic scenes played out in the final episode as he unearthed his prize. Emotional and exhausted, he hauled the box of cash from the sand, throwing money into the air with his finalists Lance Savali and Edna Swart proudly by his side.
Parker says that though the journey to first place was an experience in itself, seeing the show afterwards was what he drew a strong lesson from.
"I think watching it back, I learned the most because I'm like, 'the whole thing is against me', and I'm looking at it back thinking, 'that could not be further from the truth, you are so ahead in this game'," he explains.
"It's amazing watching that denial, that doubt come in, and you're like, 'where has that come from?'
"I think what I took away from watching it play out was having a bit more belief in myself."
His love for entertaining others started when he was younger. At first, he wanted to be a serious actor, doing drama classes as a kid at Original Scripts in Christchurch and taking part in plays twice a year.
“"The general rule of thumb is, if it's true for me, it's true for someone else"
Parker would often be cast as one of the more comical characters and enjoyed the attention it brought him. When he got to high school, he joined his theatresports team.
"I'm used to not being the coolest guy in school, so, if anything, comedy was a defence mechanism. It was like, 'if I'm ahead of the joke and people are laughing at me', then at least I'm empowered slightly.
"We'd do skits and improv games before assembly before the teachers came into the hall, and we'd imitate the teachers... we'd have the guys laughing. But then I went to drama school."
With a repertoire of jokes that seems to never disappoint, how does he keep the content fresh and engaging?
"I think it's about getting creative with what's going on in your life. You've always got to look for something new that hasn't been talked about before or find your own point of difference," he says.
"I do feel like there's a lot to talk about. But also, it's been a very eventful year in New Zealand already. We've had three civil emergency alerts on our phones, so I feel like we're living in really chaotic times, and there's a lot to really talk about and explore."
Part of what makes Parker so amusing is his ability to capture the essence of classic Kiwi culture and develop it in a way that makes it refreshingly relatable.
"The general rule of thumb is, if it's true for me, it's true for someone else," he says.
Getting up on stage tasked with the challenge of getting a whole room of people to crack up takes a certain type of person, but Parker says there are a few key attributes someone needs to have a chance at pulling it off.
"I think you have to be self-aware. You can't take yourself too seriously. And I think you've got to have something to say," he says.
He's kicked off his comedy show Lots Of Love this week which will take him to Tauranga, Wellington, Dunedin, Hamilton, Palmerston North and New Plymouth in May and June.
"Have it my way, I'd be on stage all the time," Parker says.
While he's accustomed to performing on stage, he says any pre-show jitters are a sign he wants to give his audience a night they won't forget.
"The nerves do arrive, but I think it's because I care, and I want to do a good job. Sometimes I just remind myself, this is such an easy, fun job, this is what you love to do, and you get to do this now on a scale that you want to do, so soak it up and enjoy it.
"I love being in front of people, I love having a crowd there, it's such an easy transaction, you pay some money, you sit down, I'll entertain you, I'll make you laugh, I'll give you a great hour, and I feel good about what I'm doing."
It's a chance for his online audience to finally catch his jokes in person.
"At the very least, it's an hour off your phone," he says.
* Chris Parker's thought provoking and witty show Chris Parker Back to School is available now on TVNZ+
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