Please Don’t Destroy’s First Tour Included Bras on Stage, “Jazz Friday” Gear and Homemade Hard Seltzers

Please Don’t Destroy knows you think they’re nepo babies, but they’re here to tell you, you’re wrong: they’re actually nepo fathers, as they explained to Decider during a break from their ongoing comedy tour.

The trio, consisting of New York University alums Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, spent the summer getting back to their roots after being catapulted into fame in 2020 when they went viral for sharing short, comedic sketches online during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following year, they were hired by Saturday Night Live to write and star in prerecorded videos for the weekly show, collaborating with big names in entertainment, such as Pete Davidson, Ana De Armas, and Lizzo. 

But the group’s family ties to SNL have not gone unnoticed by the public, as Herlihy and Higgins are both sons of longtime writers and producers of the late-night program. As conversations about nepotism have been on the rise, it’s gotten under the skin of several breakthrough performers, such as Ben Platt, who ended an interview with Rolling Stone early after mention of being showcased in New York Magazine’s Nepo Baby cover.

Please Don’t Destroy has a different approach.

“We’re nepo fathers,” Marshall told Decider over a Zoom call when asked how they navigate or subvert their nepo baby association. “We have our own kids and they will start making movies.” Higgins agreed, “That’s how we’ll subvert it.” Herlihy joined the banter, “They’re gonna be in a choir, the most famous choir.”

After a pause, Herlihy thoughtfully added, “We’re aware that we come from extremely privileged backgrounds. Aside from nepotism, we’re three white guys who went to NYU. So, we’re not over here pretending like we had the hardest time getting started in comedy. I hope that the work is good enough that people feel that it should be out there anyway.”

Marshall continued, “We know that that’s a thing that comes to people’s minds and it just makes us want to hold ourselves to an even higher standard and show people that we’re doing it for a reason.”

Over the last three years, the group has evolved from posting online videos and doing smaller comedy shows in New York City, to becoming SNL creators and going on a regional tour — described as “gloriously unhinged” in a review – spanning over 25 cities. The jokesters try to recall their favorite tour stops, but instead, go on a tangent, listing Portland, Oregon; Madison, Wisconsin; Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Durham, North Carolina, and so on. Higgins joked, “not all of them,” and Marshall added, “We’re leaving off one.”

Through this experience, the group has learned how to create comedy for a live, studio audience, rather than for people staring at a phone screen and in small crowds. “It is a different skill because you need big moves and turns, and sometimes physical stuff works really well,” Marshall said. 

“We started doing live stuff for much, much smaller audiences, and then our videos were born out of the pandemic, and that felt like a learning curve of like, ‘Oh, our jokes need to be funny right away and need to be extremely clear.’ We had to have a joke for every couple of seconds, but then SNL was more about the big laughs every 15 seconds instead,” Herlihy added. “Now, this feels like a nice return to our roots.”

The tour is set to come to an end in New York City at the 1,500-seat historical venue The Town Hall, on September 29, 2023, which Marshall says is their first “big” comedy show in the city. “We’re excited for a homecoming show.”

Looking back on the tour, Marshall recounted a bizarre experience: “Well, someone threw a bra on stage.” Herlihy joined in, adding that it was the “first and last time” that happened, but “it was amazing.” Other memorable fan interactions also include a child who dressed in “full Jazz Friday gear” at a show, in homage to their 2020 YouTube sketch, as well as people making their own hard seltzers to show off, and “getting friendship bracelets, lots of friendship bracelets.” (Thanks, Taylor Swift!)

While hitting the road, Please Don’t Destroy welcomed a few surprise guests to the stage, including talk show host and SNL alum Conan O’Brien. “We got to work with Conan on this project that we’re not allowed to talk about, and he’s since become a mentor figure for us,” Marshall shared, referring to their upcoming Peacock movie The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, which was created and filmed prior to the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and is set to release amid negotiations. As of now, the WGA have reached a tentative deal with major studios and streamers that is expected to end the strike.”He’s been so kind and generous with his time and advice, and he flew out to DC to do the show,” Higgins added about O’Brien.

With the movie set to release on November 17, 2023, and SNL still on pause due to the strikes, Please Don’t Destroy hopes the two unions can reach a “fair deal soon,” and express that they are in full support of both unions, both of which they are members of.

The group, while fresh, has managed to survive a pandemic that threatened the entertainment industry, and currently finds themselves on the up-and-up amid the ongoing strikes. But how do they keep the momentum going, especially during such challenging times? Well, they just “can’t imagine doing anything else,” Marshall said. “It’s really nice to have two other people who, even if you’re not feeling it that day, like you have to show up for them. Hopefully, at least one of us is in the mood to work every day.”

As for what’s next for the group, they teased that they are going to get into “finance and biotech,” and while it was obvious that they wanted to continue to list new industries, Marshall politely turned to the camera and emphasized that they were joking. “Just to make sure, for the record.” 

He added, “In a real way, we’re hoping that the strike is resolved and then we’ll go from there. In the meantime, we’re just focusing on what we can do, which is performing live. It would be great to go back to work at SNL, but you know: deal first.”

“And then we retire,” Marshall joked while holding up two fingers. “Two years.”