Martin Herlihy, the 27-year-old comedian and one-third of the Please Don't Destroy trio, is leaving "Saturday Night Live" before Season 52, the latest in a wave of departures that has reshaped NBC's flagship sketch show in barely a year.
Herlihy's exit, first reported by Page Six citing Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, comes less than a month before the Season 52 premiere scheduled for September 26 on NBC and Peacock. NBC has not yet announced an official cast for the new season, and the network did not respond to a request for comment.
No reason was given for Herlihy's departure. The reporting does not specify whether he resigned, was let go, or simply saw his contract expire. What is clear is that the show's roster has been in near-constant flux since Season 50 wrapped in May 2025, and the churn shows no sign of slowing down.
Herlihy, Ben Marshall, and John Higgins arrived at SNL together in 2021 at the start of Season 47 as a comedy trio called Please Don't Destroy. The group produced digital shorts, a format made famous years earlier by The Lonely Island, the trio of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone. Please Don't Destroy's first short, "Hard Seltzer," aired October 9, 2021.
The arrangement lasted four seasons. When Season 50 ended, SNL broke up the group. Higgins left the show entirely. Marshall stayed and was promoted to the main cast.
Herlihy landed somewhere in between. He remained on the writing staff through Season 51 and appeared in sketches from time to time, but he was no longer a featured player. Now he is gone altogether.
Higgins, the son of longtime SNL producer and writer Steve Higgins, posted about his departure on Instagram, saying he was "excited to pursue acting opportunities."
"I can't believe how lucky I was to be a part of this show. It was my dream and I got to live it. And to do it with my two best friends and my dad was an unbelievable experience."
Marshall, meanwhile, reflected on the trio's early days in an interview with People magazine.
"That is such a fun thing to think about 'cause we were truly just guessing. Like, we had no experience. I had no idea if it was gonna work in front of a live studio audience."
It worked, for a while. But the show's decision to split the group after Season 50 left Herlihy in a diminished role, and his full departure now seems like an inevitable result.
Herlihy is far from the only familiar face heading for the door. Chloe Fineman, 38, announced her departure on Instagram on July 16 after seven seasons, roughly two months before Herlihy's exit became public.
"After 7 wonderful seasons at 'SNL' I have decided it's time for my next chapter."
Fineman called the job "the greatest privilege of my life" and acknowledged it was "really hard" to leave, but said it "does feel like the right time."
Bowen Yang, another main cast member during Season 51, left the show mid-season. No detailed explanation for his departure appeared in the reporting.
The turnover stretches back further. Ahead of Season 51, AP News reported that Ego Nwodim departed after seven seasons, along with Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and Michael Longfellow. Five new featured players, including Marshall, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska, joined at that time.
Nwodim framed her exit graciously: "The hardest part of a great party is knowing when to say goodnight. But after seven unforgettable seasons, I have decided to leave SNL." Wakim struck a similar tone, writing that he "was so lucky to bring some of myself in there" and was "excited for whatever chapter comes next."
The Season 51 main cast included Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Colin Jost, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang, nine names in all, though Yang's mid-season exit reduced that number before the season ended.
With Herlihy and Fineman now confirmed out, and NBC silent on the Season 52 lineup, the show heads into its fall premiere with real questions about who will be on stage. SNL creator Lorne Michaels had signaled broad changes were coming after the milestone 50th season, and the results have been exactly that, broad and ongoing.
For Herlihy, the five-season run that began with a comedy trio and a hard-seltzer sketch ends without fanfare, no public statement, no Instagram farewell, at least not yet. The 27-year-old simply moves on, joining a list of departures long enough to make you wonder whether NBC is retooling the show or just watching the talent walk out the door.
When a show loses this many people this fast, the question stops being who left and starts being what they're leaving behind.
