Please Don't Destroy is an American comedy group in New York City composed of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, who began collaborating as students at New York University. The group was founded in 2017 and based on an act titled Please Don't Destroy My Farm. The troupe performed monthly comedy shows, appeared at the New York Comedy Festival, and produced sketch videos posted to YouTube. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the trio began creating short-form videos for TikTok and Twitter.
In 2021, the trio was hired as writers on Saturday Night Live (SNL) to produce prerecorded digital videos for the show's 47th season. Please Don't Destroy debuted on SNL on October 9, 2021 with the sketch Hard Seltzer. Its song "Three Sad Virgins", with Pete Davidson and Taylor Swift, received widespread attention. In 2023, the group did a 26-date live comedy tour of the United States. In the same year, the trio wrote and starred in Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, a comedy film that follows three friends as they struggle through early adulthood and search for treasure.
In July 2025, Please Don't Destroy began a comedy tour of seven U.S. cities. In September 2025, it was announced that Higgins would not return for Saturday Night Live's 51st season, while Herlihy would remain as a writer and Marshall would be promoted to cast member. Herlihy would also continue to appear in prerecorded sketches written and directed by him. Despite Higgins's departure from the series, Please Don't Destroy would not break up but would no longer produce sketches for SNL.
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Members
Ben Marshall
Ben Marshall (born May 1, 1995) grew up in Savannah, Georgia, where he attended the Savannah Arts Academy. He graduated from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2017. At NYU, he was involved in the Hammerkatz sketch comedy and Astor Place Riots stand-up comedy groups. Prior to SNL, he worked as an after-school counselor at the 14th Street Y while pursuing comedy. In 2025, he guest-starred in an episode of season two of Poker Face. On September 2, 2025, Marshall was announced to become a featured player on SNL, promoted from writer and short-form video creator to full-time cast member.
John Higgins
John Higgins (born November 14, 1995) grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. Born into an entertainment family, he is one of four children of Steve Higgins, a producer and writer for SNL most widely known as the announcer of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He is the nephew of actor David Anthony Higgins, actor Chris Elliott, and comedy writer Alan J. Higgins and the cousin of actress Abby Elliott. He attended Montclair Kimberley Academy, and has cited Simon Rich as a major influence during this time. Higgins attended New York University where he was part of the Hammerkatz sketch comedy troupe and graduated with an English degree from the NYU College of Arts & Sciences in 2018. Outside of his work with Please Don't Destroy, he has appeared in the films A Man Called Otto (2022) and the indie comedy The Country Club (2023). He is married to comedian Emily Wilson. In September 2025, Higgins announced that he would leave SNL after four seasons as a writer.
Martin Herlihy
Martin Herlihy (born September 13, 1998) grew up in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the son of Tim Herlihy, a longtime comedy partner of Adam Sandler and a writer-producer for SNL in the 1990s. Herlihy attended Ridgefield High School and graduated from NYU Tisch in 2019. At NYU, he was involved in Astor Place Riots stand-up comedy.