Please Don't Destroy

Please Don't Destroy
Genres	Satire, surreal humour, off-color humor
Years active	2017–present
Members	Ben Marshall John Higgins Martin Herlihy
Website	pleasedontdestroy.com

Please Don't Destroy is a comedy group in New York City consisting of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, who began collaborating as students at New York University. The group was originally 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, they began creating shorter 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. They recorded the song "Three Sad Virgins" with Pete Davidson and Taylor Swift.

Herlihy is the son of former SNL head writer and producer Tim Herlihy, while Higgins' father is long-time SNL writer, announcer and producer Steve Higgins.

List of prerecorded sketches

Season 47 (2021–22)

Title	Original airdate	Description
Hard Seltzer	October 9, 2021	Three SNL writers; Martin, Ben and John, discover a variety of hard seltzers.
Rami Wants a Treat	October 16, 2021	Host Rami Malek explains why he deserves to be rewarded for being on his best behavior at Saturday Night Live. Recorded for Malek's episode but cut for time.
Calling Angie	November 6, 2021	John tries to reconcile with his ex-girlfriend Angie (Sarah Sherman), but the call goes off the rails.
Three Sad Virgins	November 13, 2021	Pete Davidson creates a music video about three sad virgins (Marshall, Higgins, Herlihy) and is joined by special guest Taylor Swift.
Touch Up	November 20, 2021	Martin, Ben, and John discuss the work they've had done, including Ben's botox and John's longer fingers. Written for the Simu Liu episode but cut for time.
Future Selves	December 11, 2021	Martin, Ben, and John are visited by their future selves who warn them of disasters, but they become distracted by how disappointing their future lives are. Written for the Billie Eilish episode, but was cut for time.
New Personalities	January 22, 2022	The three writers try out some new personalities such as 'Dude whose years of research got rocked' and 'The Subway Guy'. Written for the Will Forte episode but cut for time.
Martin's Friend	January 29, 2022	Martin introduces his new friend Connor to John and Ben. Initially John and Ben dislike Connor but the four end up becoming friends. Connor wants to pitch jokes to Colin Jost for Weekend Update, and Jost appears telling Connor he loves them.
Good Variant	February 26, 2022	A celebration breaks out after news of a new COVID variant that's actually good. Host John Mulaney plays a news anchor reporting on the new variant. Paul Rudd tests positive for the variant and passes it to Martin, Ben and John. Al Roker and Sarah Sherman also join the celebrations.
We Got Her a Cat	March 12, 2022	The three writers plan to surprise host Zoë Kravitz with a cat, but it doesn't go as expected. Paul Dano is found to be living in the writers' office as he is doing research for a movie about "three guys who suck".
Three Normal Goths	April 2, 2022	A group of goths with conventional tastes live completely normal lives. Host Jerrod Carmichael appears and is judged by the goths for his fashion choices. Filmed for Carmichael's episode but cut for time.
Lizzo Has Writer's Block	April 16, 2022	Lizzo needs help writing two new songs for her SNL performance. Andrew Dismukes appears as himself and threatens to kill Lizzo if her new songs aren't good enough.

Season 48 (2022–23)

Title	Original airdate	Description
Tommy	October 8, 2022	Martin, Ben, and John play high school versions of themselves, and find out that their best friend Tommy (played by host Brendan Gleeson) is a 67-year-old Irish man. This is the first PDD sketch to take place completely outside of their office.
Wellness	October 15, 2022	The boys talk about things that they do to stay healthy.
Election Night	November 12, 2022	New cast member Molly Kearney suddenly wins the election for Attorney General of Ohio, and the boys must help them come up with a speech soon. Steve Kornacki cameos as himself, giving the election results.
Chelsea	December 10, 2022	Two guys find themselves in a bad situation with their friend reunites with his ex-girlfriend (Sarah Sherman). Sherman's father, Mike Sherman, cameos in this film.
Plirts	December 17, 2022	The boys create a shirt made of plastic, pitching the idea to host Austin Butler. New cast members Devon Walker and Marcello Hernandez join in on the fun, as does musical guest Lizzo.
The Stakeout	February 25, 2023	Ben holds a stakeout with Woody Harrelson to find out what Martin and John are hiding from him. It turns out they have a secret family and are holding auditions to replace Ben.
Self-Defense	March 4, 2023	After being insulted by the interns, the boys go to a self-defense class lead by Kirk Lightning (played by host Travis Kelce).
Road Trip	March 11, 2023	The boys and Jenna Ortega sing about going on a cross country road trip.

Filmography

Title	Release	Description
Untitled	August 18, 2023	Three childhood friends who live and work together, don't like where their lives are headed, and set off to find gold treasure rumored to be buried on a nearby mountain.