Martin Herlihy is reportedly departing Saturday Night Live after five seasons, closing a notable chapter that began with the rise of the Please Don’t Destroy sketch trio and continued behind the scenes on the show’s writing staff. The network did not comment on the reported exit.
Herlihy’s time at Studio 8H was unusual in the way it crossed between writer-driven digital comedy and traditional live-sketch television. For four seasons, he appeared onscreen alongside Please Don’t Destroy partners John Higgins and Ben Marshall. In Season 51, he remained with the program as a writer, while still turning up periodically in sketches and short-form pieces. That route made him more than a performer who simply vanished with a cast change: he stayed involved after the trio’s on-air configuration changed.
The departure arrives before the upcoming Season 52 and makes Herlihy the second significant exit reported ahead of the new season. Chloe Fineman left in July after seven seasons, having become known for impressions including Jennifer Coolidge and Drew Barrymore. Herlihy’s departure therefore adds another change to a show already navigating an evolving group of performers, writers, and recurring comedic voices.
From Please Don’t Destroy to the writing room
Please Don’t Destroy became a distinct part of the modern SNL ecosystem because its members brought a short-video sensibility directly into the show. Herlihy, Higgins, and Marshall frequently played heightened, hapless versions of themselves, creating a recognizable internal comedy universe rather than functioning only as anonymous writers. The trio’s work helped establish the members’ individual screen personas while preserving the group’s fast, self-aware style.
Herlihy appeared in dozens of Please Don’t Destroy sketches during his four onscreen seasons. The format often placed the three comedians in a familiar office setting or an absurdly escalating situation, with Herlihy frequently positioned as the straight-faced—or at least the comparatively straight-faced—participant in a spiraling premise. That recurring approach gave viewers a reason to recognize him beyond a single supporting role.
Some of the group’s most remembered appearances also connected Herlihy with the show’s weekly hosts and musical guests. He appeared opposite Dakota Johnson in the popular “Roast” sketch. Taylor Swift also featured in a Please Don’t Destroy piece that referred to Herlihy as a “sad virgin,” an example of the trio’s willingness to make their own fictional selves the punch line.
After Season 50, SNL reshaped the group’s presence. Higgins left the NBC series, while Marshall moved into the main cast. Herlihy stayed on the writing staff for Season 51. The change meant the three no longer occupied the same regular onscreen role at the program, but it did not erase their shared history or end the trio as an outside project.
Herlihy still appeared during Season 51
Working as a writer did not prevent Herlihy from appearing in front of the cameras. His Season 51 appearances included “Blowing It” and “Green Flags,” as well as several installments of “A Film by Martin Herlihy.” Those pieces kept his individual comic identity visible even as the old Please Don’t Destroy arrangement on the series had changed.
That detail matters because a staff-writing role can be less visible to casual viewers than a featured onscreen spot. Herlihy’s periodic returns made clear that his association with the program had not become solely off-camera. At the same time, the reported Season 52 exit suggests that his five-season run is now ending across both sides of the production: the onscreen ensemble work that introduced him to many viewers and the writing position he held most recently.
There is no announced next television role attached to this report, and the lack of network comment leaves the specifics of his departure unaddressed. It is therefore too early to attach a larger explanation to the move. What is established is the timeline: four seasons as an onscreen member of Please Don’t Destroy, followed by writing-staff work during Season 51, for a total of five seasons connected to SNL.
Please Don’t Destroy continues outside NBC
The shift does not mean Please Don’t Destroy has ended. Herlihy, Higgins, and Marshall remain an active comedy trio, continuing to tour and pursue projects together outside the NBC program. Their identity as a group has always extended beyond the specific structure of a weekly sketch show, and their separate career paths do not change the fact that Please Don’t Destroy remains active.
The trio also made the jump to feature-length comedy with 2023’s Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, released through Peacock. The film put all three members at the center of a larger project and demonstrated that the group could carry its dynamic beyond the shorter sketches that built its audience. Peacock remains a major entertainment destination for movies as well as comedy programming; for another example of the service’s release slate, see the reported Peacock arrival of Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day.
Herlihy also has recent film credits that include The Breadwinners, Roommates, The Running Man, and Happy Gilmore 2. The latter has a family connection as well: it was co-written by his father, Tim Herlihy, a longtime Adam Sandler collaborator. Those credits place Martin Herlihy’s reported SNL departure in the context of work that already reaches beyond late-night sketch comedy.
A transition during an already changing season break
Long-running live comedy shows are built around turnover, but each exit lands differently depending on the role a person held. Herlihy was not only part of a recognizable trio; he was also part of a transition period in which Please Don’t Destroy changed from a regular onscreen three-person unit into three comedians following different roles. Marshall’s promotion to the main cast, Higgins’ departure, and Herlihy’s continued writing work each represented a separate direction.
Now, with Herlihy reportedly leaving ahead of Season 52, the immediate SNL connection among all three members has changed again. Their continued work as Please Don’t Destroy means fans should not read the end of his NBC tenure as the end of the group. Rather, it marks the conclusion of one specific five-season stretch, one that included viral-style sketch work, familiar self-parody, celebrity collaborations, a feature film, and a final year balancing writing with selective onscreen appearances.
For viewers, the practical legacy is a collection of sketches that gave Herlihy a particular place within the show’s recent history. For the program, his exit removes a writer-performer whose role evolved instead of remaining fixed. And for Please Don’t Destroy, it creates another separation between the trio’s independent future and the television platform that helped introduce its members to a much wider audience.
