Comedy may be their business, but Please Don’t Destroy fans aren’t laughing at the latest Saturday Night Live shakeup.
The beloved sketch trio — Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy and John Higgins — have been a staple of SNL since 2021, bringing viral videos and quirky humor reminiscent of The Lonely Island. But with season 51 rolling in, big changes are underway, and it’s leaving fans wondering: is this the end of PDD as we know it?
The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the group’s sketches will not be continuing on SNL due to staffing shifts. Marshall has officially been promoted to the main cast, while Higgins announced that he’s departing his writing role to pursue acting full-time.
In a heartfelt Instagram post, Higgins addressed his exit, writing, “I can’t believe how lucky I was to be a part of this show. It was my dream and I got to live it. And to do it with my two best friends and my dad was an unbelievable experience. Thank you to everyone who made my time there so special, it made this decision that much harder. But for now, I’m excited to pursue acting opportunities that I’ll announce soon but today I’m just grateful for everything we got to do. As that fat lil bear Winnie the Pooh once said, ‘How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.’”
That leaves Herlihy and Marshall in a tricky spot. While the two could theoretically continue making sketches without Higgins, the trio’s dynamic has always been their signature. As Variety reported, the three still plan to work together outside of the NBC staple — so fans can breathe a sigh of relief that this isn’t a full-on breakup.
Please Don’t Destroy first burst onto the SNL scene in 2021, going viral with a skit poking fun at the hard seltzer craze. Not long after, they teamed up with Pete Davidson and Taylor Swift for the now-iconic “Three Sad Virgins” music video, cementing themselves as one of the most buzzworthy acts on the show. They even made the jump to film, releasing Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain in 2023 on Peacock, produced by comedy legend Judd Apatow.
The trio also come from comedy royalty. Higgins is the son of longtime SNL writer and producer Steve Higgins, nephew to comedian Chris Elliott, and cousin to The Bear star Abby Elliott. Meanwhile, Herlihy is the son of Tim Herlihy, a frequent Adam Sandler collaborator and former SNL writer.
And while their future on SNL is uncertain, Please Don’t Destroy aren’t slowing down. They’re currently on tour with shows scheduled in Portland, Baltimore, and Red Bank, New Jersey.
