Captain Holt's Best 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Moments Will Never Be Forgotten

News has circulated that Andre Braugher, the actor famous for playing Captain Holt in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, among other roles, passed away on Dec. 11, 2023, at just 61 years old. His cause of death has yet to be revealed, but his publicist shared that he died after a “brief illness.” As the world mourns his death, we remember his best Brooklyn Nine-Nine moments.

He played the Captain of the squad, a father figure to many of our favorite characters, especially Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg). At the beginning of the eight-season sitcom, he’s high-strung and “robotic,” but throughout the series, he learns to let loose and get silly. His best moments vary from sentimental, to unexpectedly ridiculous, to some of the most intense and well-acted moments in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

In one of Holt's most iconic scenes, Scully and Hitchcock ask their Captain a simple question: "Is everything okay?" But Holt does not have a simple answer. In fact, because Andre was a trained Julliard and Shakespearean actor, the writers often gave him long, poetic monologues to show off his skills. This moment consists of all the ups and downs, the drama, the rhythm, and the nuance of a classic theater monologue, with some comedy thrown in. It's pure perfection.

As Holt and Terry (Terry Crews) fight over who has to ride a motorcycle, Holt simply says, "You think my life matters less because I don't conform to society's heteronormative child-centric ideals?" Terry's appalled that Holt would "play the gay card," to which Holt snaps and says, "Yas, queen."

It's still early on in Holt's character arc, but that doesn't stop him from picking the most iconic code name possible: Velvet Thunder. Jake's reaction to his name makes the moment that much better.

As Holt gets sillier, he's more open to trying new things, like marshmallows! As the squad makes their best attempt at how Holt would react to a marshmallow, no one expects him to giggle the way he does when he actually eats it. It's so charming and unexpected, we can't help but love him even more.

When Holt first uses Twitter (before it was bought by Elon Musk and turned into X), he spells his name in hexadecimal code as his handle. He tries to tweet information about the water main break using abbreviations. However, his account gets deactivated because the app thinks he's a bot! "Why?" Holt says with shock and anger. "I'm a human! I'm a human male!"

Both Holt and Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) are known for their lack of emotion, both a strength and a weakness. But when Rosa goes through a difficult breakup, they both get just a little vulnerable. "Thank you for acknowledging my feelings," they tell each other in an unexpected, but sweet, moment.

Holt and Cheddar become inseparable, and there's nothing better than a grown man's love for his corgi. When Holt taps Cheddar to steal the championship belt, Holt realizes that someone has actually stolen Cheddar! He calls a look-alike corgi "this b----" with all the sass in the world.

Amy (Melissa Fumero) needs a distraction when she's giving birth, so Terry and Holt provide the perfect one! They perform an *odd* dance for her through the one-way mirror, and it's an image that will be burned in our heads forever.

In the finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Captain Holt calls back to all the times that Jake called him "dad." But this time, Holt is the one calling Jake a "son." In one of the most emotional scenes of the series, Holt tells Jake, "If I had had a son and he turned out like you, I would be very proud of him." But the icing on the cake is that Holt makes a joke when he says, "Not bad for an old robot," and then goes even further with Jake's "title of a sex movie" bit.

We're laughing through our tears!