This new docuseries about two single comedians looking for love is also a joyful celebration of female friendship.

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“How many people do you think are boning right now?” Kura Forrester asks Brynley Stent as the bright lights of Ōtautahi Christchurch stretch out in front of them. It’s a crisp, dark night, and singletons Bryn and Ku have just survived two intense dating events. They’re on a nationwide search for romance, but somehow, they’ve found themselves alone at the top of the Port Hills, where they’re reflecting on the great mysteries of the universe: life, love and… boning.

It’s the first episode of Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club, a new short documentary series from The Spinoff that sees award-winning comedians and friends Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester embark on a cross-country quest to find love. Kura describes herself as “perpetually single” and thinks about finding love every day, while Brynley has been single for three years. She enjoys it, 95% of the time – “then I spend 5% of the time just feeling crushingly lonely.”

These two pals are on a mission to find love somewhere – anywhere – in Aotearoa. They’re keen to push beyond their comfort zones to find a meaningful romantic connection, visiting student parties in Dunedin, pubs in Stewart Island and black tie balls in Canterbury. Friends and whānau will share advice, and they’ll contemplate why they feel it’s so important to be in a relationship, before tackling the dating scene themselves with humour and honesty.

Really, they’re not asking for much. “By the end of this series, I’d like to be married, pregnant, and in love but already hating him,” Kura announces as they set off on their journey. “I want to turn from the frigid friend into the biggest slut everyone knows,” Brynley jokes.

Their first dating event is a Christchurch board game evening called “Roll for Romance”, where they meet 20 other singles to bond over games “picked to spark conversation and laughter”. “Oh, fuck,” groans Kura, but it turns out she’s brilliant at giant Jenga. Later that evening they attend a “meet and mingle” singles cocktail night, where Brynley awkwardly breaks the ice by revealing she once accidentally killed a guinea pig and Kura reveals that meeting strangers is far more terrifying compared to the “bulletproof” feeling of performing onstage.

It’s a reminder that while we might know Kura and Brynley as confident, self-assured performers, they experience exactly the same anxieties and insecurities as the rest of us. There’s a real generosity of spirit here, as Brynley and Kura open up and share their most personal hopes and dreams with the nation. They’re vulnerable in ways you might not expect, which gives their search a deeper sense of authenticity. Some of the dating events they attend might be a little zany, but there’s no doubt that Bryn and Ku are there for the right reasons.

And amid the zingy one-liners and cheeky glances to camera, there are the quieter, introspective moments when Kura and Brynley reflect on how society views single women in their 30s and 40s, and what they want their futures to look like. Why is it so hard to find a good partner, they wonder, in between changing bras in a rental van and declaring “sluts don’t feel the cold, Bryn!”

Thank goodness they’re in this together. Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club may be a quest for romantic love, but it’s also a celebration of female friendship. Watching this docuseries is like hanging out with your two best mates as they constantly try to make each other laugh the hardest. The support and solidarity they show each other is beautiful, and their journey is filled with warmth and sincerity. I watched it with a huge smile on my face.

Because no matter how many giant Jenga towers fall in Brynley and Kura’s search for a partner, friendship feels like the ultimate winner. In Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club, the pair don’t feel like strangers we’re meeting for the first time, trying to work out what interests we have in common. They’re just two of our mates, sitting in front of a city, making rooting noises in the front seat of their car.

Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club is made with the support of NZ On Air. New episodes are released every Tuesday.