The comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy, best known for creating some of Saturday Night Live’s most viral digital shorts in recent years, is officially splitting across different paths on the show.
On Tuesday, NBC revealed that Ben Marshall will move from the writers’ room to the stage, joining the SNL cast as a featured player for the upcoming season. Meanwhile, Martin Herlihy will remain on the writing staff, while John Higgins has decided to leave the series entirely to pursue new acting opportunities.
Despite the shakeup, the group emphasized that their partnership isn’t ending. Marshall wrote on Instagram, “I love these boys so much… This is a new chapter, but we’re not going to stop working together anytime soon.” Higgins echoed that sentiment, reflecting, “I can’t believe how lucky I was to be part of this show… I’m excited to pursue acting opportunities that I’ll announce soon, but today I’m just grateful for everything we got to do.”
Since joining SNL in 2021, Please Don’t Destroy has carved out a reputation for quirky, self-aware digital shorts, often starring themselves alongside celebrity guests like Taylor Swift, Rami Malek, Dakota Johnson, and Timothée Chalamet. The group, formed in 2017 while the trio studied at NYU, first gained momentum through live shows in New York and viral sketches shared online during the pandemic.
Outside of SNL, they released the 2023 Peacock film Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, produced by Judd Apatow. Herlihy has also stepped into acting, with credits in Happy Gilmore 2 and upcoming roles in Running Man, Roommates, and Breadwinner.
Comedy runs in the group’s DNA: Herlihy is the son of longtime Adam Sandler collaborator and former SNL head writer Tim Herlihy, while Higgins’ father, Steve Higgins, has been a producer and writer on the show since 1995.
Even with their careers diverging at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the Please Don’t Destroy team is making clear that their creative bond remains intact.
