Teenhood friends, long-term flatmates and comedian combo Christopher Parker and Brynley Stent chat about their history of room sharing, the weird things they witness living together and the hej hej pressie they snuck under the tree for Christmas.

Full Names

Christopher Robert Parker and Brynley Stent

Introduce your old mate in one sentence

Chris: The most loyal, generous, crack up friend anyone could ask for.

Brynley: An extremely talented, generous, hilarious ray of sunshine.

Brynley, you picked Chris The Equality Shirt in Sage. Tell us why you selected this for him?

Chris is a bright, bold person and often wears colourful clothing,  so I chose the most colourful option in the range. I think it goes well with his beautiful brown eyes.

Chris, you selected the Babydoll Savage Dress in Sky Blue for Brynley, don’t you just love it? What about this made you think of Brynley?

Chris: I do just love it. I’ve known Brynley for over 15 years and she just loves to be fun, playful and a little cute when styling herself so I feel like this dress will be an iconic staple in the Brynley Stent wardrobe.

You guys are best mates, collaborators and flatmates, how long have you been living together?

Chris: I first lived with Brynley in Wellington sleeping in her bed, not paying rent for no less than four months. It worked then so we went for round two in Auckland. Now with our respective partners, own bedrooms and both paying rent, it’s been fourish years and we’re still going strong.

Brynley: We've actually been best friends since we were 14 and did high school theatresports together. We've lived together twice now! We lived in a flat above a furniture shop in Wellington while we were both in drama school, and then Chris slept on an air mattress on the floor of my rooms for a few months while he was travelling between Auckland and Wellington for work. Then we moved into the place in Auckland we are now and have been living with each other (plus both our partners and two other flatmates) for the past 3 or 4 years.

If your house was on fire and you could only save one thing for each other, what would it be? Answer for each other. 

Chris: Brynley’s precious family jewellery box. I would risk my lift to save it!

Brynley: Chris has a small tin car that he's had since he was very young, it's moved with him to every house he's ever lived in.

What’s the weirdest thing Chris/Brynley does when he/she thinks no one is looking?

Chris: Well I’m always watching the weird things Brynley does when she thinks no one is watching. I love watching her eat spoonfuls of nut butter and throwing the spoon in her mouth like a manic nut butter addict.

Brynley: Films comedy sketches. Chris is always balancing his phone somewhere, dressed in some hilarious costume filming comedy sketches for his Instagram. It's very funny to watch the behind-the-scene, especially when they are completely out of context.

Introduction written by Zoe Edwards from Muster  // Photos by Brynley & Chris