Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg’s real life run in with the police

ANDY Samberg isn’t a cop, he just plays one on TV. But the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star says the role has led to some interesting encounters with real police.

ANDY Samberg isn’t a cop, he just plays one on TV. But the former Saturday Night Live star says the role has led to some interesting encounters with real police officers.

“I was robbed a few weeks ago,” he says taking a break on the LA set of police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, in which he stars as Detective Jake Peralta.

“After I talked to the police I have to admit that I felt like a little bit like an expert. I said to the cops, ‘Yeah, it was a smash and grab,” he recalls, feigning nonchalance. “I was super annoying.”

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine became an instant hit in the US. After its debut season it won two Golden Globes last year for Best TV series Musical or Comedy, and Samberg took home the statue for Best Actor — TV series Musical or Comedy.

“I think we’ve really found our voice,” he says.

Set in the fictional 99th precinct of New York City’s police department in Brooklyn, the series includes a diverse cast such as the formidable Andre Braugher (Homicide) who brings deadpan — ridiculously deadpan — gravitas to the offbeat comedy which consists largely of up-and-coming actors. Additionally, there’s an impressive roster of recurring roles played by such name actors Sandra Bernhard, Kyra Sedgwick and Eva Longoria.

Comic cops ... Andy Samberg fronts the cast of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Although the show is based around crime, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is largely a workplace comedy. The show’s creators are writers Michael Schur (The Office, Parks and Recreation) and Dan Goor (Parks and Recreation).

At first glance, it may look like traditional mainstream fare, however, the writing boasts unconventional characters and left-of-centre storylines.

“From what I can tell from people approaching me on the street, they seem to like the cast and enjoy spending time with this group of people,” Samberg says on why the show struck a chord. “It’s great writing, of course, and I think the small details of the show make it true to present day reality. It’s a police precinct in Brooklyn and so its diverse backgrounds in race, gender and sexual preference are represented and treated normally rather than it being a big deal.”

He shrugs. “That’s the way of the world we live in. I think with a lot of people, consciously or subconsciously, the way we approach that diversity resonates for them. We’re past those differences of race or sexuality being the joke and so it’s nice to be on a show that’s caught up to where we should be in the world.”

Thin blue line ... Brooklyn Nine-Nine is proudly “squandering” Andre Braugher’s talent, says Andy Samberg.

Samberg cut his teeth shooting funny videos with close friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone for The Lonely Island website, before getting a contract with Saturday Night Live in 2005.

“SNL was my dream since I was eight years old,” he says with genuine enthusiasm.

“It was all I ever wanted to do — I never thought it would happen in a million years.”

But after seven years and an Emmy (for joke song D--- in a Box) he walked away in 2012. Samberg says he was exhausted.

“It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make in my life. Even after I left I wasn’t sure if I had done the right thing.”

Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s success means the gamble paid off.

Braugher, who recently won for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the Critics’ Choice Television Awards, took a gamble as well to play Captain Holt, a gay man in a long-term relationship.

Comic cops ... Andy Samberg as Jake, Joe Lo Truglio as Charles, Stephanie Beatriz as Rosa in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Picture Eddy Chen/NBC

It was a drastic change of pace for the classically trained actor best known for his role in Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 — 1998 (for which he earned an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series).

Samberg smiles gleefully when he talks of his co-star.

“Andre’s trained as a Shakespearean actor and we’re squandering his talent.”

Braugher joins us briefly and deflects Samberg’s backhanded compliment.

“Look, before anyone dared to combine my name with a comedy, I was doing a nuclear hostage drama, Last Resort,” he says. “And I love drama and I love gritty and edgy, but I also want to have some fun too. I really needed a change and I need to grow.”

He pauses. “Spiritually I needed to laugh a little bit. After seven years on Homicide, it was really nice to come down here and track down some hams and just have fun in the police world. And even though it’s a comedy, I understand the world of police, the mindset of the characters, the workplace, so I felt like I could fit in.”

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Universal, today, 7.30pm; new episodes return to SBS in February.