Who is Kevin Cozner in Brooklyn Nine-Nine?

Show

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Played by

Marc Evan Jackson

First episode

“The Party”Season 1, Episode 16, aired February 4, 2014

Role

Side character

Network

FOX

Occupation

Classics professor at Columbia University

Show run

2013 to 2021Moved from FOX to NBC for its last three seasons.

Also known as

Dr. Kevin Cozner, Kevin Michael Cozner, Kev

Kevin Cozner is a classics professor at Columbia University and the husband of Captain Raymond Holt. Played by Marc Evan Jackson, he matches Holt's deadpan formality perfectly, which makes their rare displays of affection some of the funniest moments on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

On Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Kevin Cozner's story runs through Raymond Holt (Husband), Jake Peralta (Friend), Gina Linetti (Friend), Amy Santiago, and Charles Boyle.

Who is Kevin Cozner?

Kevin is an academic who chairs the classics department at Columbia University. He and Holt share a quiet, orderly life at home along with their beloved corgi, Cheddar. He first appears in season one, when the squad is invited to Holt's birthday party and discovers just how much of Holt's reserve runs in the household.

At that first meeting Kevin is cool toward the detectives, and Jake in particular tries far too hard to impress him. The episode reveals that Kevin's distance comes from years of watching Holt endure discrimination from other officers as a Black, gay man in the NYPD. By the end of the night he has softened, and he even joins Jake in a small prank on his husband.

Personality and comedy

Kevin is precise, deeply intellectual, and almost as emotionally understated as Holt. The two of them speak to each other with an elaborate formality, and the joke is that underneath it they are completely devoted. A brief handshake in public counts as a major display of affection, and a heated argument might be about a math puzzle like the Monty Hall problem.

He has little patience for nonsense, so Jake's goofy attempts to befriend him mostly meet a stony stare. Over the years Kevin grows fond of the squad, especially Jake and Gina, while never quite giving up his dry, slightly withering commentary.

Key storylines

In season three Kevin spends six months teaching at the Sorbonne in Paris, and when a lonely Holt finally flies over to visit him, Jake and Amy house-sit and manage to lose Cheddar. In season five, when the gangster Seamus Murphy threatens Holt's loved ones, Kevin is sent into protective custody with Jake for two months in "Safe House." The strain nearly breaks the marriage, until Kevin turns the tables and rescues Holt and Jake himself. In season six Jake helps Kevin solve a theft at his university in "The Bimbo," and Kevin publicly defends Holt's intelligence to a condescending dean.

The final season opens with the news that Holt and Kevin separated during the hard year of 2020, after Holt let the pressures of the job crowd out their marriage. The squad schemes to bring them back together, the couple go to therapy, and they reconcile. In "Renewal," Holt and Kevin hold a vow renewal ceremony, and Kevin accepts that Holt is too passionate about his work to retire.

Behind the scenes

Kevin is played by Marc Evan Jackson, a frequent collaborator of co-creator Michael Schur who is also known for playing the demon Shawn on The Good Place and Trevor Nelsson on Parks and Recreation. His chemistry with Andre Braugher's Holt made Kevin one of the show's most beloved recurring roles even though he appears in only a handful of episodes a season.

The show saved one last Kevin joke for the series finale. Holt's mysterious tattoo, teased for years, is finally revealed to be Kevin's head on the body of Cheddar the corgi, a fittingly strange tribute to the two great loves of Holt's life.

Kevin Cozner: frequently asked questions

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