Top 10 Times Nick Was the Best Character on New Girl

Nick has always been the most relatable character on “New Girl,” and this moment proves it. He’s nervous about his date with the hot new bartender so he gives himself a pep talk in his mirror to prepare. While dancing to reggae music, he strips down to his birthday suit. It’s a moment of both metaphorical and literal self examination. Naturally, this is the exact moment Jess walks in and catches him in the embarrassing state. Poor Nick, that last fragile piece of self confidence he was clinging onto shattered at the high pitch of Jess’ giggle scream. Anyone who has lived with roommates can understand the distinct lack of boundaries that comes with Nick’s living situation.

Let’s be honest, we’ve all had trouble with this word. What is that middle “r” even there for? During a guys night in, Schmidt and Winston both admit some embarrassing gaps in their knowledge, and Nick decides to make some confessions, in solidarity. He starts by telling the guys that he doesn’t know how to pronounce February, and things go downhill from there. [Apparently, he only knows the alphabet from the song, and he never learned how to love.] Wow! Nice truth bomb Nick. He’s just so casual about the admission that you can’t help but morbidly laugh a bit. Or belt out a haunting love song.

As we stated before, Nick doesn’t have the best self-esteem. But his confidence skyrockets when he happens upon a trench coat that is accidentally delivered to the loft. Despite all of his friends constantly reassuring him that it is in fact a woman’s coat, Nick feels, to use his words, [hot to trot] in that coat. Kind of pathetic, right? But Nick uses this to his advantage for once, in his pursuit of a woman who likes guys that are kind of a mess. Unfortunately for Nick, the true owner of the magic trench coat eventually comes to collect it. But it seems a little of the magic rubbed off on him. It gives him the confidence to kiss Jess for the first time.

This is one of Nick’s biggest shenanigans that, eventually, turns into his book success. The first incarnation of Julius Pepperwood was a character created by Nick to spy on one of Jess’ creative writing students, Edgar, who he is convinced wants to kill her. Nick gets crazy paranoid, but we can’t really blame him. The dude was writing and drawing some pretty creepy stuff. Nick goes so far as to sneak into the guys shed as Pepperwood to figure out what his deal is. Though, Nick might have been overthinking this one, considering that Edgar has never met him, so there was no need to create an alias. But we’re glad he did. Who knew he would become such an icon?

Every single Christmas Nick misses his flight home, so he is determined to make it this time. But when Jess gets dumped at a Christmas party — and it is pretty much all his fault — he makes a big move to make it up to her. He takes her to Candy Cane Lane to see all the pretty houses all lit up with Christmas lights and decorations, but they arrive too late. That doesn’t stop Nick from saving Jess’ Christmas though. He bangs on doors and gets the whole gang to shout in the middle of the street for everyone to turn on their lights. Nick makes a Christmas miracle happen for her. And, of course, he misses his flight.

Nick isn’t exactly the type of guy good at expressing his emotions, but whenever he gets excited, or hurt, or scared, he expresses those moments the only way he knows how: with the patented Nick Miller scream. Whether it’s the time he burns his hand in Jess’ soup and then gets headbutted by her, or the time he gets terrorized by the monsters in a haunted house, that high-pitched scream always makes us laugh. Our favorite is when he freaked out meeting Prince. The gang sneaks into a party at Prince’s house and upon meeting him, Nick is absolutely speechless, but he does let out one long scream before passing out. Classic.

Part of Nick’s charm is that he’s kind of a mess. And when we meet his dad, we finally understand at least part of the reason why. His dad is a con man that never offered Nick the affection that he really needed growing up, and continues to brush off Nick’s issues into his adulthood. This really explains a lot about Nick. Like he says, he’s not a successful adult. He doesn’t even wash his own towel. Through a series of hilarious and unfortunate circumstances, Nick finally does express the frustrations with his father that he’s been holding onto for so long. It’s nice to see some insight into the loveable wreck we all love.

Whenever Nick feels uncomfortable in a situation he has a very odd, yet creative way to escape. He simply moonwalks away. Why not just walk away like a normal person? No, that’s not good enough for Nick Miller, he relies on Michael Jackson’s most famous move to get him out of sticky situations. And it’s the worst moonwalk ever. We’ve seen this walk from him a few times, but the best has got to be right after he and Jess kiss for the first time, and in an effort to avoid each other, they both end up at Cece’s Indian wedding expo. He sees her there and rather than deal with the issue, he silently, and embarrassingly moonwalks away.

Everyone knows that Nick is incapable of telling lies. In his own words, even thinking about lying turns his back into a slip-n-slide. The gang even not so affectionately calls him sweatback. So he probably isn’t the best guy to leave alone with the cop performing Winston’s home background check to become a police officer. Especially when the gang are trying to help Jess hide a bag of meth. Nick gets stuck in the room with Winston’s superior and, despite his body sweating like it sprung a leak, he actually does manage to keep the secret by telling her every other secret he’s ever kept. What’s better than the unorthodox way Nick managed to lie is just how proud of himself he is for it.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Lie Practice
“Landing Gear”

Cotton Eye Joe
“Elaine’s Big Day”

French Toast
“Sister III”

Trusting Beyoncé
“Wig”

Fork Arms
“Models”

One of Nick’s most defining character traits is, as noted, his irrational anger. When the drama at the loft becomes just too much for him to handle, he heads to the park to cool down. While there, he meets his soulmate, Tran. Though annoyed by him at first, Nick is somehow calmed by Tran, even though he doesn’t say a word. Nick starts confiding in Tran everything that’s upsetting him, and, while still silent, Tran somehow helps Nick figure out the answers to his problems. Who knew Nick could find comfort in a small, wordless man and a session of water massage? This was the beginning of an odd but beautiful friendship.