Please Don’t Destroy’s Martin Herlihy Is Leaving SNL

Well, after five years, Saturday Night Live is about to be left with only one sad virgin. Vulture has confirmed a report that Martin Herlihy, part of the Please Don’t Destroy sketch trio who joined the show as writers and performers in 2021, is leaving the show ahead of its season 52 premiere on September 26. The news comes a year after the trio was first split up going into season 51, with Ben Marshall joining the cast as a featured player, Herlihy staying as a writer, and John Higgins moving on to other opportunities. Herlihy did ultimately get his share of onscreen exposure last year in a series of pretaped sketches he wrote and directed, but there was a noticeable dropoff from the height of Please Don’t Destroy’s time at the show, when the group got a fast-talking, non-sequitur-heavy sketch on the air nearly every episode.

Please Don’t Destroy remains active as a group outside SNL. They continue to perform live shows, and they released a sketch-comedy special and tour documentary in July 2025 titled Please Don’t Destroy LIVE. Outside SNL, Herlihy has appeared as an actor in movies like Happy Gilmore 2, The Breadwinner, Roommates, and of course Please Don’t Destroy projects like The Treasure of Foggy Mountain. His time at SNL will be fondly reminisced upon, if only for the fact that there was a brief moment during his tenure when the show had two Colin Josts.