10 Best Catchphrases From ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine,’ Ranked

Time and time again, a multitude of TV shows have embedded themselves into the daily lives of viewers through catchphrases that slither their way into regular conversations. Brooklyn Nine-Nine stands out as one such series, with its witty anecdotes and hilarious episodes. Over two years after its finale, the show’s catchphrases still find their way into general vocabulary. Unlike some dialogues that may have become redundant over time, the ones from Brooklyn Nine-Nine remain fresh, specific, and wonderfully quirky, making the show an important cultural touchstone.

From “Title of your sex tape!” to “Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, …,” these dialogues have etched a permanent spot in the hearts of audiences. But even beyond the dialogues, the show left a legacy that will go on for ages. Despite not achieving the same level of mainstream recognition as some of its counterparts, like Friends or The Big Bang Theory, Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s quality remains unparalleled. The show doesn’t rely on off-color or crude humor and is able to generate laughter through smart and inclusive humor, which is a testament to its brilliance.

10 “Nine-Nine!”

Terrence Jeffords

The squad at the ninety-ninth precinct uses this chant very often. From motivating each other in times of crisis to celebrating all wins ‒ big and small, this chant becomes an emotion with the progress of the show. While the phrase is only recognition of their NYPD precinct, it pushes the detectives to do better. Beyond the chant, the phrase has also weaved its way into their everyday conversations, where it doesn’t just refer to their place of work but a group of people they’ve learned to accept as a family away from home.

Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) uses this phrase for the first time in The Pilot when he tells Holt (Andre Braugher), “That’s how we do it in the nine-nine, sir. Catch bad guys and look good doing it.” But it’s really only used as a chant in Thanksgiving, the tenth episode of the first season where Jake proposes a toast to his team. As the seasons progress, however, Sergeant Terrence Jeffords (Terry Crews) is often the first to shout it out, and the squad chants it back in unison. While Jake is the one who coined the term, and Terry is the one who uses it most often, it belongs to everyone on the squad, a living, breathing embodiment of their camaraderie and love.

9 “… Now Number Five.”

Jake Peralta

The seventeenth episode of the fifth season offers one of the most hilarious cold opens on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Jake is investigating a murder and asks the witness to identify the killer. When she heard him sing “I Want It That Way” by Backstreet Boys, he asks all the five guys in the suspect lineup to sing one part of the song. However, Jake, being Jake, gets carried away with the development and completely forgets about the witness standing next to him. As he rounds up the song, he sings “…Now Number Five” instead of the original lyric, “Tell Me Why,” which leads to one of the best cold opens on the show.

The scene was executed flawlessly by the actors and the production. While a detective forgetting that he was trying to identify a serial killer would be appalling in all situations, the writers find a way to make it lighthearted and hilarious, pulling it off in a way most shows couldn’t. Even years after the episode aired, fans still make memes on the TV show, often about getting challenged to sing the song correctly for millions of dollars and ending up singing Now Number Five instead of the original song.

8 “I’m the human form of the 💯 emoji.”

Gina Linetti

Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti) is the Regina George of the nine-nine. She is confident, suave, audacious, and unapologetic. She has a larger-than-life personality and walks through life with an unmatched flair. According to her, the English language cannot fully capture the depth and complexity of her thoughts, so she started incorporating emojis into her speech to better express herself (winky face). On one such occasion, she introduces herself as the human form of the 100 emoji, which, while quite narcissistic, isn’t far from the truth.

Gina has a remarkable skill set and can get almost anything done. When the smartest of the squad fails to solve a problem, Gina often saves the day. She sometimes opts for unconventional methods that could land in the legally gray territory, but the results speak for themselves. Gina is thrifty and clever and can conquer any situation with ease. While she isn’t the kindest member of the squad – often mocking others on a whim, she is a force to be reckoned with and develops strong bonds with everyone throughout the seasons. Ultimately, she ends up becoming a lifestyle icon, influencing millions around the world with her charm.

7 “Terry Loves Yogurt.”

Terrence Jeffords

Among the many romantic storylines on the show, Terry is found to be part of an intense love affair as well. Not a conventional romantic one, but an unwavering passion for yogurt. While he loves his family the most, his mango yogurt is a close second. The catchphrase has been used by multiple characters over the seasons, but it truly belongs to Terry. His affection for his yogurt is a symbol of comfort for him, especially with the constant hype around his muscular, Kool-Aid Man-like body.

When Holt delivers a poignant message of hope after Captain Seth Dozerman’s (Bill Hader) death – popular for the line, “Everything is Garbage, Never Love Anything,” he also mentions Terry’s mango yogurt, which has been discontinued. And Terry’s love is true, proved in the season five episode HalloVeen, where Holt, Amy, and Jake all put GPS trackers in Terry by tricking him on separate occasions into eating yogurt.

6 “Noice!”

Jake Peralta

While Jake is always creative with his vocabulary, his slang for “cool/awesome” is definitely one of his best works based on popularity. Whenever he’s excited and happy, Jake tends to use the word “noice,” a play on the word nice. He’s aggressive with the usage of this word and over the seasons, Charles and Amy pick it up quite a few times. Ultimately, though, the quote is all Jake and captures his playful nature. While the roots of the pronunciation can be found in an exaggerated Australian accent, Jake Americanizes the word with his usage.

The word is undoubtedly easy to slip into everyday vocabulary, replacing the often-overused word with a catchy rendition. In time, the catchphrase has found its place on multiple kinds of merchandise and has become a fan favorite for gleeful moments. The word has also been added to the Urban Dictionary, thanks to its exponentially increasing use on social media.

5 “Bone?!”

Captain Raymond Holt

After the squad disobeys Captain Jason Stentley (Ken Marino) and leaves for Florida to help Captain Holt and Jake battle against Jimmy “The Butcher” Figgis (Eric Roberts), they are punished and put on the night shift. Due to spending his nights at the precinct, Captain Holt and his husband get less time to spend together and develop problems in their marriage. On their first date in a very long time, Kevin brings up a Monte Carlo simulation of 3 doors in a game show. The couple fights over the same, and Holt almost ends up firing Detective Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) for taking his husband’s side.

When Rosa realizes the real problem, she tells Holt he and his husband need to bone. Shocked beyond belief, Holt is infuriated at Rosa and makes an ordeal out of it shouting in front of the entire precinct. This makes the entire precinct crack up at him being so worked up. Ultimately, though, when he comes to work the next morning, it is revealed that Rosa’s guess was right, and Kevin and Holt solve their miscommunication by “boning.”

4 “Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, …”

Jake Peralta

Jake’s lexicon is fascinating. While “noice” conveys that the subject is cool or awesome when he uses “cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, …” in repetition, he actually means that the thing in question is less than ideal, sometimes even dismal. His emotions around the phrase range from mild unhappiness to a touch of irritation, depending upon the situation. When he’s sentenced to prison after being framed by Melanie Hawkins (Gina Gershon) for bank robbery, Jake ends the episode with “Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt,” leaving the season on a quirky note despite the gloomy circumstances.

On other occasions, he uses repetitions with other words like “uncool” and “yep.” When Cheddar is kidnapped, and Jake decides to approach the kidnappers dressed as Kevin, he goes so far as to do the chant with “indeed” to fit into character. In a general scenario, this is definitely a cool catchphrase to use to express dismay in a situation you’d like others to think you’re happy about.

3 “Hot Damn!”

Captain Raymond Holt

With his calm and stoic demeanor, it seems impossible to think of Holt reacting to anything in a haughty manner. But in Jake and Sophia (Season 2, Episode 6), Holt reveals his excited and cheerful side ‒ even if it comes out only occasionally. When Amy is 70 seconds late for work‒ definitely a sight for sore eyes, Jake asks everyone to guess why she’s late. While Rosa thinks she tucked herself in too tight, Jake believes she fell into a manhole. When Holt overhears the commotion, he decides to interfere. He then bets that Amy was late because the line in the bank was too long.

When Amy comes back, everyone asks her the reason she was late. Ultimately, Holt’s reason prevails, and he reacts with “Hot Damn!,” shocking everyone with his enthusiastic response. Over the proceeding seasons, Holt continues to use this remark on various occasions. What makes this even funnier is that the actors revealed that the remark was spontaneous, and the reason the scene cuts right after Holt’s reaction is because everyone was laughing out loud.

2 “Yippie Kayak, Other Buckets!”

Charles Boyle

Jake’s undying love for Die Hard is a constant reminder in many episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. So when he gets the chance to be a real-life John McClane, albeit with Canadian robbers instead of German villains like he would have preferred, Jake is obviously overjoyed. But as circumstances would have it, he and Charles (Joe Lo Truglio) are outnumbered in the midst of the attempted robbery. In a selfless act, Jake gives up his McClane moment to save all the civilian hostages involved in the larceny. Much to his dismay, after landing from the vent, Charles shouts, “Yippie Kayak, Other Buckets” instead of the original.

While censoring profanity and making the episode wholesome, Charles ends up ruining Jake’s vicarious moment, but they finally emerge victorious in catching the robbers and keeping all hostages safe. Beyond their responsibilities as police officers, this moment brought forward their unbreakable bond. The catchphrase took the internet by storm and quickly became a fan favorite. From hoodies to frames, the phrase still rules, turning a censoring move into a cultural phenomenon.

1 “Title of your sex tape.”

Jake Peralta

One of the best running gags on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “Title of your sex tape!” is Jake Peralta’s default response to any situation that contains subtle innuendos. Compared to some of its counterparts from other TV shows, this catchphrase has the least heat and doesn’t lean on off-color humor for laughter. It thrives on the element of surprise and plays on the nuances of language. Jake mostly uses it on other people, except for when it is a gracious comment about his own prowess, but on occasion refers to it as “our sex tape” when referring to him and Amy.

While the dialogue is already one of the funniest on the show, it gains even more emotion in the final episode. While talking to Jake at their one last meeting before Jake leaves the precinct, Holt compliments Jake and tells him, “I guess in the end, we rubbed off on each other quite a bit. Title of your sex movie!” He then looks to Jake for confirmation on whether he spoke it correctly. Jake gets emotional, turning one of the funniest dialogues on the show into a permanent poignant moment.

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