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The 10 Best Brooklyn Nine-Nine Cold Opens
- Joao Nsita
- 4 hours ago
- 16 min read
You know that feeling when a show earns your trust in the first 90 seconds?
Brooklyn Nine-Nine did that every single week.
Before the title card. Before the main plot. In under two minutes, this show had a way of making you laugh harder than most comedies manage in an entire episode.
That's the power of a great cold open.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine's cold opens became legendary for a reason. They were unpredictable. They were perfectly timed. They were often completely disconnected from the episode's main story — and yet somehow more memorable than anything that followed. They made iconic moments out of lineup singers, marshmallow reactions, and accidental fitness competitions.
If you're a B99 fan, you know the one. You know exactly which cold open made you rewind, grab someone nearby, and say "you HAVE to watch this."
These aren't just funny introductions to episodes. They're tiny masterpieces — little comedy sketches that understood their characters so precisely they could get a huge laugh with barely any setup.
The best Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold opens are among the greatest moments in TV comedy history. And this list is here to celebrate every single one of them.
Whether you've seen every episode multiple times or you're searching for the moments everyone keeps referencing, this is your guide.
Let's start 👇
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If you love this, check out: The 10 Most Epic Jake and Holt Episodes in Brooklyn Nine-Nine
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The 10 Best Brooklyn Nine-Nine Cold Opens, Ranked
10. Scully Solves the Case (Season 7, Episode 11 — "Ding Dong")
What it is: Hitchcock and Scully accidentally stumble into capturing a fugitive — not through detective work, skill, or even luck in any meaningful sense, but purely through the kind of chaotic incompetence that somehow loops back around to success. The squad watches in stunned silence.
Why it works: Hitchcock and Scully are the secret weapons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's cold opens. They are funny in the exact opposite way from Holt — not through precision, but through shamelessness. They have no dignity to lose, which gives them a comedic freedom the other characters don't have.
This cold open works because it perfectly encapsulates the show's absurdist logic: the least capable people accidentally achieving the most impressive result. It's a one-joke premise executed with such perfect timing that it lands every time.
Why fans love it: The comedy of watching the entire squad — competent, professional, experienced detectives — be outperformed by the two people who are actively a liability is endlessly satisfying.
It's also a great example of how Brooklyn Nine-Nine uses Hitchcock and Scully in the smartest possible way. They're not just joke machines — they're mirrors. Every time the squad watches these two bumblers accidentally triumph, they're forced to confront something mildly uncomfortable: maybe effort and competence don't always determine outcomes. Maybe sometimes the universe just hands it to Scully. And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.
Try this: Rewatch the squad's reaction shots. The escalating disbelief on their faces is its own performance.
🎧 More great content at the podcast: https://www.thatlovepodcast.com/episodes
9. Holt's Dance-Off (Season 3, Episode 8 — "Hostage Situation")
What it is: Jake, Charles, and Captain Holt are patrolling the streets when a street dancer accidentally bumps into Holt and spills his drink. Before anyone can process what's happening, Holt challenges the dancer to a dance-off — and he is good.
Why it works: The entire comedy engine here runs on subverted expectations. We have spent two-and-a-half seasons watching Raymond Holt be the most buttoned-up, composed, rigidly dignified person in any room. And then without warning, he is absolutely destroying someone in a street dance battle, with the energy of a man who has been waiting for exactly this moment.
This cold open is the purest expression of the show's comedic philosophy: treat a ridiculous premise with complete sincerity, and let the character's consistency do the heavy lifting.
Holt doesn't think this is ridiculous. Holt would never think this is ridiculous. Because Holt takes everything seriously. Including dance.
This is also a cold open that rewards thinking about the backstory it implies. At some point in Raymond Holt's life, he learned to dance. He practiced. He got good. And then he filed that skill away — not as something to show off, but as something he simply knows, like he knows everything: completely and without fanfare. The dance-off doesn't surprise him. He's just responding to a situation that called for it.
That's the beauty of Holt as a character. He contains multitudes. And the cold opens are where those multitudes get to briefly, gloriously surface — usually before anyone else in the scene has time to process what's happening.
What makes it so great: Andy Samberg and Joe Lo Truglio's increasingly delighted/horrified faces as Holt proceeds to win are comedy gold. But the real performance is André Braugher's — absolute zero expression, complete commitment, total domination.
You'll also love: The 10 Most Epic Jake and Holt Episodes in Brooklyn Nine-Nine
8. Cold Brew Chaos (Season 5, Episode 5 — "Bad Beat")
What it is: Jake, Charles, and Terry decide to try a new cold brew coffee before work. They drink way too much of it. The scene that follows is three grown men vibrating at an inhuman frequency, talking at approximately 400 words per minute, and absolutely convinced they have never felt better in their lives.
Why it works: Physical comedy and verbal comedy combined with perfect character specificity. Jake talks faster but still makes the same Jake Peralta jokes. Charles becomes more enthusiastic about food — impossibly — than he already is. Terry flexes. These are the same people, just turned up to an unbearable volume.
This is the kind of cold open that rewards close watching because every character is doing something individually funny at almost every second. There's so much happening that you'll catch new details on rewatch.
Tips for sharing this one: Show it to people who haven't seen B99 before. The character-specific comedy still reads immediately, and it's a perfect introduction to why this show works.
The cold brew cold open also does something the best B99 ensemble moments always do — it lets everyone in the scene be funny at the same time. There's no straight-man waiting patiently while one character performs. Everyone is part of the joke, experiencing the same overcaffeinated chaos in their own specific way. You can practically feel the jittery energy through the screen.
7. Holt's Marshmallow Moment (Season 6, Episode 4 — "Hitchcock & Scully")
What it is: The squad takes turns doing their impressions of Captain Holt and how he would react to eating a marshmallow for the very first time. Each impression is funnier than the last — Boyle's is the standout. Then the real Holt walks in, someone gives him a marshmallow, and he reacts almost exactly as Boyle predicted.
Why it works: This cold open is a love letter to how well these characters know each other — and how well the show knows itself.
The joke only works if you've spent enough time with Holt to have opinions about how he'd react to a marshmallow. And by the time this episode airs, you absolutely have. You know Holt's cadences, his dignity, his contained expressiveness — and so when Boyle gets it exactly right, the delight is enormous.
There's also something deeply warm about this moment. The squad is doing their impressions not to mock Holt, but because they love him. They've studied him. He's their captain and they know him like family.
And when the real Holt walks in and reacts almost exactly the way Boyle predicted — it's not just funny. It's a small, perfect confirmation that these people have genuinely paid attention to each other. That they've been watching and learning and building a real understanding of who Holt is. The marshmallow cold open is a comedy bit that doubles as a portrait of a workplace that has become something more.
That's rare. And it's the kind of thing you only notice on a rewatch, once you've already loved the show for a while. Brooklyn Nine-Nine rewards long-term viewers in ways that feel like gifts.
Explore more: What To Watch
6. Amy Is Late ("Hot Damn!") (Season 2, Episode 3 — "Jake and Sophia")
What it is: Amy Santiago is running late for work — which literally has never happened before in recorded human history. The squad immediately starts placing bets on why. Each detective offers increasingly absurd theories. Captain Holt, asked to participate, gives the only completely logical, mundane answer possible.
He is immediately dismissed as boring.
Amy arrives. His answer is correct. And Captain Raymond Holt, losing all composure for approximately 1.8 seconds, yells "HOT DAMN!" and pumps his fist.
Why it works: Two and a half minutes of escalating squad theories followed by one of the greatest character-break moments in sitcom history.
Everything about this cold open is perfectly designed. The setup is simple. The squad's guesses are perfectly in character (Jake makes it a competition, Terry worries about safety, Gina makes it about herself). And Holt's answer is so reasonable and so Holt that it's almost unfunny — until it's the most hilariously right answer possible.
Then the "Hot Damn!" arrives and the show will never top it and it knows that and leans in completely.
What's remarkable about this moment is what it reveals about Holt that no amount of serious dramatic dialogue could have done. The "Hot Damn!" isn't just funny — it tells you something real about who Raymond Holt is underneath the composure. He cares about being right. He cares more than he would ever admit. He keeps this under wraps with extraordinary discipline across every professional setting — but bet on Amy Santiago being late, get it right, and the mask slips for 1.8 glorious seconds.
That's character work disguised as comedy. And that's exactly why Brooklyn Nine-Nine's cold opens hit differently from most shows'.
This is must-watch television. If you haven't seen it, find it immediately.
5. The Halloween Heist Morning (Season 5, Episode 4 — "HalloVeen")
What it is: It's Halloween morning. Jake and Amy wake up and immediately discover that the other one has already been awake for hours, fully dressed and strategically prepared for the annual heist. And Captain Holt is already sitting in their bedroom in the dark, waiting.
Why it works: By Season 5, the Halloween Heist has become a beloved institution — and the cold open perfectly captures the shared madness it has instilled in these characters.
The reveal of Holt sitting quietly in the dark is exquisitely timed. It shouldn't be as funny as it is. But Raymond Holt calmly waiting in someone else's dark bedroom before dawn, saying nothing, wearing his full captain's uniform — it's the image of a man fully committed to competition at the expense of all social norms.
This is the heist starting before the heist even starts, and it's perfect.
What this cold open captures so well is how the Halloween Heist became a shared mythology for the squad. It's not just a competition — it's an annual ritual that they all enter with complete seriousness. They plan for it. They lose sleep over it. They sit in each other's dark bedrooms before dawn because the stakes, to them, are real. The absurdity is played completely straight, and that's what makes it so funny and so warm at the same time.
🎧 Head to the podcast for more: https://www.thatlovepodcast.com/episodes
4. Terry's Daughters (Season 2, Episode 21 — "Det. Dave Majors")
What it is: Terry Jeffords brings his twin daughters to the precinct. Holt attempts to interact with children and fails magnificently. Jake and Charles immediately turn babysitting into a competition. The girls — who are absolutely not impressed by any of these adults — are perfect chaos agents.
Why it works: Terry's daughters are the comedic equivalent of holding a funhouse mirror up to the squad. They respond to every adult interaction with the devastating honesty that only small children can deploy, and the show uses them brilliantly to expose each character's soft spots.
Watching Captain Holt attempt to relate to children is comedy gold. Watching Jake turn "making kids laugh" into a high-stakes performance is even better. And watching Charles overcomplicate everything with gourmet snacks is completely in character.
This cold open is warm, funny, and full of love for all these ridiculous adults trying to be cool in front of a four-year-old.
It also works as a reminder of something Brooklyn Nine-Nine always did better than most shows: it genuinely liked its characters. Even when they were being ridiculous, you could feel the warmth underneath. These people love each other. And nothing reveals that quite like watching them all compete to be the favorite uncle of a toddler.
3. Die Hard Re-Enactment (Season 1, Episode 1 — "Pilot")
What it is: The very first cold open of the very first episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Jake Peralta sits at his desk, narrating his day like he's the hero of an action movie. He is, of course, sitting in a police precinct doing paperwork. The gap between his internal narrative and his actual reality is the entire joke.
Why it works: This cold open is doing something very clever for a pilot episode: it tells you everything you need to know about Jake Peralta in under 90 seconds without actually explaining anything.
Jake isn't just a detective who likes action movies. Jake inhabits action movies. He genuinely sees his ordinary workday through the lens of a Die Hard sequel. That's not a character trait. That's a worldview. And it's the key to everything that makes Jake funny for eight seasons.
Starting with this cold open was a great creative choice — it sets the tone, establishes the character, and signals that this is a show that understands exactly what it is.
For B99 newbies: This is the perfect starting point. Watch this cold open and you'll know immediately whether this is the show for you.
There's also something quietly brave about it as a pilot cold open. Most new shows spend their opening minutes overexplaining — introducing characters, setting up relationships, establishing tone through heavy-handed dialogue. The B99 pilot does none of that. It just drops you into Jake's head and trusts you to keep up. That confidence paid off.
Explore more: The Top 10 Cop and Police Procedural Dramas on Netflix
2. "I Want It That Way" (Season 3, Episode 11 — "Hostage Situation")
What it is: Jake is running a lineup. Five suspects stand behind the one-way glass. Jake asks the witness to identify which man robbed the store. Instead of doing the normal thing — asking them to speak or walk — Jake asks them to sing Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way."
One by one, the suspects start singing. Jake joins in. Then he gets completely carried away. The song becomes its own event. The witness, patiently waiting, eventually announces:
"It was number five. Number five killed my brother."
Jake: "Oh my God, I forgot about that part."
Why it works: This cold open is arguably the most famous scene in the entire show — not just the most famous cold open, but the most famous scene.
And it deserves that reputation. Everything about it is perfect: the absurd premise, the escalation, the perfect timing of Jake's abandonment to the bit, and the devastating punchline that reminds us what was actually happening.
It's also a perfect Jake Peralta character moment. He gets so into the song that he forgets there's a murder investigation at stake. This is exactly who Jake is.
What also makes this cold open so enduringly popular is how well it travels. You don't need to have seen a single episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine to find the "I Want It That Way" lineup funny. The premise is immediately legible. A police detective asking murder suspects to sing a boy band song is a universally funny idea. But for fans who know Jake — who understand that he is a man physically incapable of not committing to a bit — it's about ten times funnier than it already is.
This is also why it became the clip Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans showed to people who hadn't started watching yet. It converts people. It works on every level — as a standalone bit and as a character moment — and it does so in under two minutes.
This is the one. If you only watch one cold open from this list, make it this one.
1. The Bet Date Setup (Season 1, Episode 13 — "The Bet") / Holt Entering to Music
What it is: This cold open features Jake winning a long-standing bet with Amy — which means she has to go on a terrible date with him dressed as "the tackiest person alive" per the bet's terms. The cold open shows Amy walking into the precinct in the most spectacularly unflattering outfit possible, while Jake's reaction perfectly captures every feeling at once: smug victory, genuine affection, and the dawning realization that maybe this bet mattered more than he let on.
Why it works: This cold open does something the show's best moments always do — it's funny on the surface and emotionally real underneath.
The bet is a comedic device. But watching Amy walk in, watching Jake's face cycle through a dozen emotions, and watching the squad immediately react — you can feel the Jake-Amy tension that's been building for thirteen episodes crystallizing into something neither character is ready to admit.
It's the cold open where Brooklyn Nine-Nine stopped being just very funny and became something that also made you feel things. That shift — from pure comedy to comedy with genuine heart — is what elevated B99 into something truly special.
Think about what the show is doing here structurally: the cold open of a mid-season episode is carrying the emotional weight of a relationship arc that's been building for thirteen weeks. That's an enormous amount of trust to place in a ninety-second scene before the title card. And it works — completely — because the writing is sharp enough and the performances are specific enough that you feel every single thing Jake and Amy are not saying to each other.
That's the Brooklyn Nine-Nine difference. Funny is easy. Funny and real at the same time, in under two minutes, is something else entirely. This cold open is the proof.
Honorable Mentions: Cold Opens That Almost Made the List
Brooklyn Nine-Nine produced so many brilliant cold opens across eight seasons that cutting it to ten was genuinely painful. A few that deserve recognition:
Jake and Charles' "Full Boyle" Cold Open — Charles declares his love immediately and completely for a new woman he's just met. The squad's reaction — somewhere between exasperation and deep affection — is pure B99.
Gina's Interpretive Dance — Gina Linetti, asked to contribute something normal to a squad meeting, delivers an interpretive performance piece. Nobody questions it. That non-reaction is the entire joke.
Holt and Kevin's Argument Mediated by Jake — Jake is asked to mediate an argument between Holt and his husband Kevin, two supremely precise and articulate people who communicate exclusively in devastating academic language. Jake, who communicates exclusively through pop culture references, is deeply out of his depth and absolutely sure he can handle it.
The Pontiac Bandit Cameo — Doug Judy appearing unexpectedly always generates immediate delight, and his cold open arrivals in later seasons capitalize perfectly on how much the audience loves that particular dynamic.
Jake's Undercover Disguise Fail — Jake assembles what he is certain is an impenetrable disguise. It is a hat. Sometimes a hat and sunglasses. The squad identifies him immediately every single time, and his confidence never wavers. It never will.
Every single one of these is worth your time — and rewatching them all in a single sitting is a completely valid way to spend an afternoon.
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Conclusion
Brooklyn Nine-Nine's cold opens are a masterclass in efficient, character-driven comedy.
They didn't need big setups or long runtimes. They needed precise writing, genuine understanding of the characters, and the confidence to commit completely to a bit — whether that bit was a Backstreet Boys interrogation or a captain calmly sitting in someone else's bedroom before dawn.
The best Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold opens are the reason fans still quote this show years after it ended. They're the moments that get clipped and shared. They're the scenes people play for friends who haven't watched yet.
They worked because the characters were real. When you know someone — really know them — even the smallest thing they do can be devastatingly funny. And this show knew its characters with love and precision.
Think about it: a marshmallow reaction, a dance-off, a song in a police lineup. None of these are big ideas. None of them required enormous budgets or elaborate plots. They just required writers who understood exactly who these people were and performers who played it completely straight — and that combination created something much rarer and more valuable than spectacle.
The cold opens are where Brooklyn Nine-Nine proved it every week before the story even started. And now, years after the show ended, they're still the moments fans return to first.
That's the magic of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. And the cold opens were where that magic showed up first, every single week.
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FAQs: The Best Brooklyn Nine-Nine Cold Opens
1. What is the most famous Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold open? The "I Want It That Way" cold open from Season 3, Episode 11 ("Hostage Situation") is widely considered the most famous. Jake asking a police lineup to sing a Backstreet Boys song — and then completely forgetting there's a murder case — became the most shared and quoted scene in the show's history.
2. What season has the best cold opens in Brooklyn Nine-Nine? Seasons 3 through 5 are generally considered the strongest for cold opens. By this point, the writers knew the characters deeply, which allowed them to build cold opens that were both perfectly timed and full of character-specific comedy.
3. How long are Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold opens? Most B99 cold opens run between 90 seconds and three minutes. The format forces writers to get to the comedy quickly, which is part of what makes them so effective.
4. Are Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold opens connected to the episode? Not always. Some cold opens set up or connect to the main episode plot, but many are entirely standalone comedy sketches that have nothing to do with what follows. That's part of what makes them so memorable — they're self-contained comedic moments.
5. What is Captain Holt's funniest cold open moment? The "Hot Damn!" moment from Season 2 — where Holt pumps his fist and yells after correctly guessing why Amy was late — is considered by many fans to be Holt's single funniest cold open moment. The dance-off in Season 3 is a close second.
6. What is the cold open where Jake sings with suspects? That's the "I Want It That Way" cold open from Season 3, Episode 11 ("Hostage Situation"). Jake conducts a police lineup using a Backstreet Boys song instead of standard procedure, gets completely absorbed in the performance, and forgets there's an actual witness waiting to identify a murderer.
7. Are there any emotional cold opens in Brooklyn Nine-Nine? Yes, though most cold opens lean comedic. Some cold opens in later seasons have emotional undercurrents — especially ones involving Jake and Amy's relationship milestones or Holt's interactions with the squad.
8. Which Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold open is best for new viewers? The pilot cold open (Season 1, Episode 1) and the "I Want It That Way" cold open are both excellent starting points. The pilot establishes who Jake is immediately. The Backstreet Boys lineup shows the show at its most inventive.
9. What makes Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold opens so good? Character specificity, subverted expectations, and complete commitment to the bit. The best B99 cold opens don't just do something funny — they do something that only these characters in this world could do. That specificity is what makes them feel so satisfying.
10. Are the Halloween Heist cold opens the best? The Halloween Heist episodes have some of the show's best cold opens — particularly the Season 5 heist morning scene. But the single best cold opens tend to be character-study moments like "Hot Damn!" and "I Want It That Way" rather than heist-specific ones.
External resource: Screen Rant's ranking of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's best cold opens
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