If you have watched the NBC sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, you must be familiar with Andy Samberg and Chelsea Peretti. The two talented actors played Jake Peralta and Gina Linetti in the show, manifesting admirable on-screen chemistry.

Samberg as Peralta is an investigator with a high rate of solved cases despite his relaxed and often childish attitude. On the other hand, Peretti portrayed a sarcastic and dominating civilian administrator, Linetti, who disliked her job, planned her life around social media, and focused on dancing as a life goal.

That pretty much suggests the kind of entertainment they offered when they were on screen together. That is also why the two are often referred to as the most important pieces of the puzzle when it comes to the show becoming a success.

But their great on-screen chemistry can be justified because they are actually childhood friends. Yes, that's right. Samberg and Peretti have been friends since they met in elementary school.

Andy Samberg and Chelsea Peretti’s Elementary School Story

The real-life friends went to the same elementary school in the Bay Area, and that's when they became close. Given Samberg's good looks, Peretti even admitted she had a crush on him while speaking with Conan O'Brien in September 2014.

"I had a huge crush on Andy and he, for some reason, will never acknowledge this. When I bring it up, he just dead-eyes me," she said.

But their friendship never developed into a romantic thing despite being friends through high school. Instead, they were typical friends, where she would repeatedly call his house with "old-timey phones" and hang up as soon as it rang.

During the conversation with O'Brien, she also shared that there was no online chatting or emojis to help her flirt with him back then while acknowledging she didn't know her end game with Samberg.

Viral Reddit Photo

A snap featuring the two, taken when they were in grade 6, went viral on the internet after it surfaced on Reddit some years back.

In the snap, Samberg sat in the car's trunk with his eyes closed while Peretti gazed straight into the lens from the back passenger seat. The duo was also accompanied by their family members, who could be seen in the frame.

"They should work this photo some way into the show, and bring back an episode where it's just Jake and Gina reminiscing about their childhood," a fan said, commenting on the Reddit post. Another chimed, "I'm so happy they are actually close friends IRL."

Chelsea Peretti’s Exit from ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’

Samberg and Peretti's on-screen chemistry ended when Peretti left the show after its sixth season. She announced the news on Twitter in 2018, writing, "I won't be doing a full season of Brooklyn Nine Nine in Season 6. But that doesn't mean I won't ever be back."

She also thanked viewers for spending hours watching her play Linetti, describing her character as confident, idiotic-but-smart, pithy, and infused with rhythm and cell-phone radiation.

Samberg later stated publicly that he admired her decision to quit to get back into her stand-up comedy. "She and I go way, way back, so it was one of those tough but all-love kind of decisions," he added.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine ran for two more seasons after Peretti's exit. The eighth and final season aired on August 12, 2021.