Ben Marshall Breaks From Please Don’t Destroy, Joins ‘SNL’ Cast

In the ever-spinning hamster wheel that is Saturday Night Live, there are only two guarantees:
the cold open will be about whatever everyone argued about online this week, and someone, somewhere,
is being quietly relocated like a couch during a frantic apartment move.

This time, the furniture with great hair is Ben Marshallbest known as one-third of Please Don’t Destroy (PDD),
the in-house digital-short chaos engine that helped modernize SNL’s pre-tape era. Now, Marshall has stepped out
from the “three guys in a room” vibe and into the official on-camera lineup, joining the show’s cast as a featured
player for Season 51. The headline version makes it sound like he’s “breaking up” with Please Don’t Destroy. The
real version is more interesting: he’s changing job titles inside Studio 8H, while the trio itself insists it’s still
very much a thingjust not the same thing on SNL.

The Headline, Decoded: What Actually Happened

Let’s translate the entertainment-news shorthand into human language. Ben Marshallwho had already been writing
for SNL and appearing in Please Don’t Destroy shortswas promoted into the cast as a featured player. That’s the
show’s “Welcome to the stage, now prove you deserve a chair” tier. Around the same time, it was widely reported
that PDD’s setup at SNL would shift: John Higgins would depart the show, while Martin Herlihy would remain on the
writing staff. The result is that Please Don’t Destroy’s era as a three-person, recurring, branded SNL unit is effectively
overeven if the trio itself is not “destroyed” in real life.

Multiple outlets characterized it as SNL splitting up the group’s on-show configuration. And in the most PDD way
possible, the trio later made a point of saying, essentially, “Relax. We’re still friends. We still have group texts.
We still share a single brain cell, and it still only works on weekends.” They’ve also emphasized that they plan to
keep working together beyond SNL, even as they chase separate opportunities. In other words: the logo isn’t being
tossed into a volcanoit’s just being taken off one specific office door.

Who Is Ben Marshall (Beyond “That Guy From the Pre-Tapes”)?

Marshall’s “overnight” rise is one of those overnight stories that includes several years of writing, performing,
bombing gracefully, and likely eating at least one sad, lukewarm slice of pizza at 1:00 a.m. He’s a Savannah, Georgia
native, and local coverage has leaned into the hometown pride angleteachers remembering his early comedic instincts
and the sense that he always had that performative spark. After high school, he attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts,
where he connected with Martin Herlihy and John Higgins, and the trio formed Please Don’t Destroy.

The group built a following with a sketch style that feels like it was engineered for the internet: short, punchy,
weirdly earnest, and allergic to traditional “setup-punchline” etiquette. Eventually, they became part of SNL’s ecosystem,
joining the show’s writing staff in 2021 and quickly carving out a lane as the house digital-short team. Their shorts
didn’t just fill time between live sketchesthey created a dependable “reset button” for the audience: a quick dose of
controlled chaos before heading back into the live-wire unpredictability of Studio 8H.

And yes, “controlled chaos” is doing a lot of work there. Please Don’t Destroy’s best-known SNL moments included
buzzy, celebrity-friendly pieces like “Three Sad Virgins,” and a general ability to make the show feel younger without
yelling, “HELLO, FELLOW YOUTHS.” Their success even extended into film, with the trio writing and starring in
Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain. In short: Marshall didn’t appear out of nowherehe arrived
with a built-in comedic identity, an established audience, and a résumé that screams, “I can write, I can act, and I can
survive on four hours of sleep.”

Why the Promotion Matters Inside Studio 8H

On paper, “writer promoted to featured player” sounds like a simple upgradelike your phone plan, but with more wigs.
In practice, it’s a major shift in how you’re judged, how you’re used, and how quickly you have to adapt.

1) Pre-tape safety vs. live-sketch danger

Digital shorts are forgiving in a way live sketches are not. They can be edited, tightened, reshot, and shaped until
the timing sings. Live sketches happen oncetwice if you count dress rehearsaland they punish hesitation. A featured
player going live has to master not only performance, but also the show’s brutal rhythm: quick changes, last-minute
rewrites, and the ancient art of “pretend you meant to do that.”

2) Featured player math: screen time is a competition

Featured players aren’t guaranteed big roles. They’re competing for space with veterans, returning fan favorites,
and the week’s host (who might have the acting range of a wooden spoon but is still going to be in nine sketches).
That’s why this move is significant: it suggests the show sees Marshall as someone who can contribute beyond the PDD
boxsomeone who can become a live-sketch utility player, not just a pre-tape specialist.

3) A shift from “brand” to “cast member”

Please Don’t Destroy functioned like a mini-brand within SNL. As a cast member, Marshall becomes part of the larger
machine. That can be creatively liberatingmore characters, more formats, more types of sketchesbut it also means his
comedic identity has to expand. The question isn’t “Can he do PDD?” anymore. It’s “Can he do everything?”

So… Did He Actually “Break From” Please Don’t Destroy?

If “breaks from” means “never speaks to them again and changes his number,” then no. The more accurate take is that
SNL’s internal structure changed. Reports around the Season 51 shake-up indicated that Higgins would leave the show,
Herlihy would remain in the writers’ room, and Marshall would be in the castmeaning the trio’s signature SNL shorts
wouldn’t continue in the same three-person way.

But outside the show, Please Don’t Destroy has repeatedly suggested they’re staying together as a group. They’ve
toured, they’ve built an audience that exists beyond NBC, and they’ve hinted at additional projects in development.
One major outlet even framed it as “the PDD era is ending… on SNL, at least,” which is basically the entertainment-news
equivalent of, “They’re not divorced; they’re just living in different apartments because the rent is insane.”

Entertainment coverage also leaned into the emotional reality of it: fans worried the trio was “over,” and the group
publicly tried to calm everyone down. Their message, paraphrased, was clearPDD is still PDD. The SNL arrangement is
what’s changing.

What SNL Gets When a Digital-Short Guy Goes Live

Marshall’s promotion isn’t just a personal milestone; it’s also a hint about what SNL wants to be in Season 51.
Recent reporting framed the season as a reinvention momentnew featured players, notable departures, and a renewed
sense that the show is trying to evolve after its milestone 50th season.

In that context, Marshall makes sense as an on-camera addition because he bridges two SNL needs at once:

He understands the writing culture

Writers-turned-performers tend to have an internal map of how sketches are built and where they break.
That often shows up as confident timing and a willingness to commit to weird materialbecause they helped write the weird
material and they know exactly which line is the load-bearing beam.

He brings a modern sketch sensibility without forcing it

PDD’s stylefast, absurd, self-aware, and oddly sincerefits how audiences share comedy now. It’s meme-friendly without
begging to become a meme. If Marshall can translate that voice into live performance, he can help the show feel current
without chasing trends like a dad running after a rolling stroller.

The Bigger Picture: Season 51’s Cast Shake-Up

Marshall’s move landed amid a broader Season 51 reshuffle. Multiple reports confirmed five new featured players joining
the cast: Ben Marshall, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska. Several departures were
also widely reported and, in some cases, publicly confirmed by the performers themselves.

By late January 2026, mainstream coverage of the season’s ongoing run still referred to this wave of changes as a major
post–Season 50 shake-up, emphasizing both the new featured players and the exits that reshaped the ensemble.
That matters because it explains why Marshall’s promotion isn’t just “one more new hire.” It’s part of a deliberate
recalibrationnew voices, new rhythms, and new combinations of cast chemistry.

And if you want a simple way to understand SNL’s logic, here it is: when the show changes a lot at once, it’s searching
for a new center of gravity. Bringing a proven internal writer forward as a performer is a way of anchoring change with
someone who already speaks “SNL” fluently.

What to Watch for Next: Marshall’s “Lane” on the Show

No featured player arrives with a fixed destiny. But there are a few realistic ways Marshall could pop early:

1) The “normal guy” who makes the weirdness funnier

PDD shorts often worked because the trio played variations of anxious, slightly pathetic sincerity. That’s not an insult
it’s a superpower. If Marshall becomes the cast member who can ground a sketch while everyone else goes full cartoon,
he’ll get used constantly. SNL always needs someone who can look into the camera like, “I regret everything,” and mean it.

2) Pre-tape crossover (without the old label)

Even if the classic PDD package changes, SNL will still do pre-tapes. Marshall may show up in those pieces because he’s
good at themand because pre-tapes are a reliable way to give newer cast members a stronger, cleaner showcase than a live
sketch with ten moving parts.

3) A writing-forward performer

Some cast members thrive by becoming the go-to for their own material. Marshall’s writing background could position him
as a performer who helps create a specific flavor of sketchtight, modern, and a little unhinged in a polite way.

Experience: What It Feels Like When a Digital-Short Favorite Goes Live (500+ Words)

If you’ve been watching SNL long enough, you know the show has two different kinds of magic: the polished magic and the
“how is this legally happening on live television” magic. Please Don’t Destroy lived mostly in the polished zoneshorts
with crisp edits, tight pacing, and that intimate, slightly claustrophobic energy of three friends making each other laugh
in a room that looks like it contains exactly one functioning lamp.

So when someone like Ben Marshall steps into the cast, the viewer experience changes in a very specific way. You’re no longer
watching “the PDD guys” pop in for their segment like an espresso shot between sketches. You’re watching one of them try to
survive the full SNL ecosystem: cold opens, live ensemble pieces, last-second rewrites, and the occasional sketch that feels
like it was invented because the costume department accidentally ordered 40 inflatable hot dogs and someone said,
“Well, we can’t waste these.”

There’s also an emotional shift for fans. Pre-tapes build comfort. They’re consistent. When you see a PDD short begin,
you know what kind of laugh you’re chasingawkward, escalating, and slightly absurd, like a conversation that’s been
edited by an overcaffeinated brain. Live sketches are a gamble. A featured player might appear in five sketches one week,
then vanish the next, then return for a single line that becomes a meme because it was delivered with the exact facial
expression of a man who has seen the abyss and the abyss is Lorne Michaels holding a stopwatch.

Comedically, it’s fascinating because it tests what a performer is made of. In a short, Marshall could rely on PDD’s group
rhythmthe way their banter creates momentum. Live, he may have to carry momentum alone. That’s a different skill. It’s the
difference between being in a band and being asked to do karaoke… except the karaoke is in front of millions of people,
and the lyrics are being rewritten while you’re already singing.

For anyone who has done sketch comedy (even at a small level), the “promotion” also has a familiar feeling: pride mixed with
panic. It’s exciting to be trusted with the stage, but the stage is where every tiny crack shows. Timing matters more.
Focus matters more. And the biggest adjustment is psychological: you can’t hide behind the edit. If a joke lands weird, you
can’t trim it. You live inside it. You learn to commit harder, recover faster, and keep going like you meant to do it all
along. That’s why, when a writer becomes a cast member, it’s not just a career stepit’s a new kind of pressure.

As a viewer, you may also notice something unexpectedly fun: the “new cast member” hunger. Featured players often arrive
with visible eagerness. They swing big. They take odd roles. They say “yes” to sketches that sound insane on paper because
getting reps matters. That energy can be contagious, especially during a season with broader turnover. It helps the show feel
alivelike it’s not just repeating a formula, but actively searching for what’s next.

And if you’re rooting for Marshall specifically, here’s the best part: he’s not starting from zero. He already understands
SNL’s tempo because he helped build it from the inside as a writer. He already has an on-screen identity audiences recognize.
The “experience” of watching him now is like watching someone change sports positions mid-career: the instincts are there,
but the game looks different from this angle. If he brings even a slice of the PDD voice into live sketchesand learns the
classic SNL craft along the wayyou’re not just watching a cast addition. You’re watching a comedic evolution in real time.

Conclusion

Ben Marshall joining the SNL cast isn’t a simple “goodbye” to Please Don’t Destroyit’s a strategic reshuffle that reflects
how SNL evolves. The trio’s signature era as a recurring, three-person SNL digital-short unit is changing, especially with
John Higgins leaving the show and Martin Herlihy staying in the writers’ room. But outside Studio 8H, the group has been clear
that they’re still together, still collaborating, and still building beyond SNL.

For SNL, Marshall’s promotion is a bet on someone who already knows the show’s heartbeatand who helped shape its most
shareable modern comedy moments. For fans, it’s a new chapter: less “drop-in short,” more “full-season character arc.”
And if Season 51 is truly a reinvention year, putting a proven internal voice on camera may be one of the smartest ways
to reinvent without losing what made the show work in the first place.