The popular collective, Please Don’t Destroy, will no longer be a part of the regular Saturday Night Live line-up. Comprised of Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy, and John Higgins, the trio has been making popular, prerecorded short digital sketches — an innovation pioneered by The Lonely Island twenty years ago — which has changed the basic nature of SNL in the 21st century. But now, if there are SNL Digital Shorts in new episodes, those won’t be created by Please Don’t Destroy. While Marshall has joined the cast full-time, Herlihy will remain as a writer, and Higgins will be departing the show, to “focus on acting outside SNL,” according to Deadline.
But, in a new update from Marshall, this isn’t the end of Please Don’t Destroy, in general. Instead, it’s the end of Please Don’t Destroy on SNL. For now.
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Ben Marshall Hints Please Don’t Destroy Isn’t Breaking Up
“This is a new chapter, but we’re not going to stop working together anytime soon,” Marshall wrote in a new Instagram post. “Thanks to anyone who has watched our videos, watched our movie, or seen us on tour. It means the world. PDD [Please Don’t Destroy] 4 ever.”
Although it seems longer, Please Don’t Destroy has only been making videos on SNL for four years. Their first short was “Hard Selzter” on October 9, 2021. This means the last Please Don’t Destroy video (for SNL anyway) was “First Class,” featuring Scarlett Johansson on May 17, 2025.
Please Don’t Destroy could become like The Lonely Island
Like The Lonely Island before them (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone), Please Don’t Destroy has existed as a comedy troupe before any of their work on SNL. And, like The Lonely Island, this also means their work could continue well after formally leaving SNL.
To put this in perspective, even though there were various Lonely Island digital shorts on SNL well into 2013, technically, in 2010, Schaffer and Taccone had already left their writing jobs at SNL. Samberg left SNL as a cast member in 2012. But we all still remember “YOLO” on SNL in 2013. And what about “Finest Girl” in 2016?
The point is from films, to additional videos, The Lonely Island still made a lot of great stuff after SNL, and some of that ended up on SNL even when none of the members were technically in the cast or on the staff. Could the same happen with Please Don’t Destroy? Bet on it.
SNL Season 51 debuts on October 4, 2025.
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