Andre Braugher’s seven funniest Brooklyn Nine-Nine moments
Andrew Braugher was an immensely talented actor, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans fondly remembered his best moments as Captain Raymond Holt. (Brooklyn Nine-Nine/NBC)
Captain Raymond Holt was the jewel in the crown that is Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Andre Braugher truly brought the deadpan and hilarious character to life with his immense acting talent.
Baugher, who passed away Monday (11 December) after a brief illness, was instantly recognisable for his deep, resonating voice that would add drama to any line, as he was originally a Shakespearean actor. It was something he used often in his performance as Captain Holt, the fictional precinct’s no-nonsense Black, gay boss.
The character hated metaphors, passionately loved his husband, obsessed over corgis, carried out elaborate plans to one-up others and fiercely protected his squad slash family – especially Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg).
Across the show’s eight seasons, Andre Baugher brought life to the uptight and loving character, becoming arguably the best character in Brooklyn Nine-Nine with too many funny lines to count.
Here are seven of Captain Holt’s most iconic and funniest moments from his time as TV’s best stuffy cop turned loveable father figure.
Captain Holt tried a marshmallow for the first time, and it was immaculate
Taking to X/Twitter, one fan shared a clip of the entire Brooklyn Nine-Nine crew trying to do impressions of Captain Holt. There were some spot-on takes, but it was Charles Boyle’s (Joe Lo Truglio) overly animated riff on Holt eating a marshmallow that won at the end of the day because of how scarily accurate it was.
The tear-jerking moment he acknowledged how far Peralta had come as a detective – then cracked a fantastic joke
Holt proved time and time again that he would be there for his subordinates, including Peralta. Their relationship developed from two people constantly at odds to become a loving mentor and mentee that thought of each other more as family than coworkers.
This dynamic was perfectly summed up in an emotional scene where Holt said he’d be proud to have a son like Peralta. As the pair were feeling all the emotions, Holt quipped: “It’s not bad for an old robot, huh? Beep-borp. Zeep.”
When Holt got fired up, he decided to take the ‘chopper’ and adopted a cool nickname
Holt was known for his long-time rivalry with Commissioner Madeline Wunch (Kyra Sedgwick), who is a recurring antagonist in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. In season two, Wunch lets Peralta work a dream case, investigating a years-old bank robbery.
But Holt worries Wunch is setting the team up to fail so joins the investigation. He eventually becomes so enthusiastic that he wants to take the “chopper” to solve the case and be known by a surprising new moniker – Velvet Thunder.
There was that time he pulled the ‘gay card‘
Throughout Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Andre Braugher truly brought life to the struggles and discrimination Holt faced as a Black and out gay cop in the NYPD. Yet, Holt also wasn’t afraid to play the gay card better than it had ever been played before when Terry Jeffords, played by Terry Crews, is worried about his safety.
It was a perfect moment of TV and ended with the best queer line in the show.
He took up hula hooping and delivered a devastating blow to Peralta at the same time
In the show, Holt was known for getting his sweat on – whether it was chasing down bad guys or doing a power walk goss sesh with his gals in the morning. No one expected he would ever decide to start hula hooping.
So he breaks the hilarious news to Peralta, who has asked everyone to give their best guesses on how the captain hurt his wrist, before destroying all the evidence.
The time he had to learn about Sex and the City to chat up a TV-obsessed guard
In one of the best extended jokes in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Holt takes on the mammoth task of memorising all he can about Sex and the City (which he initially thinks is two different TV shows) to distract a security guard, who loves the show.
It’s a piece of comedy gold from Andre Braugher deadpan describing himself as “such a Samantha” after apologising for a double entendre. He then adds he didn’t care for the movie, dropping this iconic line: “Abu Dhabi? Abu don’t bother.”
When he loved his dog so much, he knew when his baby was replaced
Cheddar is the adorable and mischievous white and brown corgi owned by Holt and his husband, Kevin Cozner (Marc Evan Jackson). He is well-trained, can do tricks and is immensely spoiled by his dad.
On the fifth annual Halloween heist, Holt trained Cheddar to retrieve the coveted champion cummerbund from a hiding spot used by the other squad members. But Cheddar is intercepted by Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), who replaced him with another corgi.
Holt soon realises his beloved dog son was replaced with “some common b***h”.
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