Please Don’t Destroy (Ben Marshall, Martin Herlihy, John Higgins), a YouTube comedy group turned mainstays of SNL digital media, are just coming off of their fourth season at Saturday Night Live (SNL). The group joined the show in Season 47 to fill the role of the former digital comedy group that was endocytosed (as in, absorbed) by SNL, The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer). When the well-loved The Lonely Island left the show in 2012, there was a definite hole in SNL’s digital presence. They put YouTube on the map with their first digital skit “Lazy Sunday” in 2005; so, in a very real way, we have The Lonely Island to thank for a lot of modern pop culture. Though it did take some time to find their replacement, Please Don’t Destroy is a fitting successor. The Lonely Island left big shoes to fill, and while Please Don’t Destroy may not be as impactful as The Lonely Island was, this new group has been consistently good.

This past week, “Please Don’t Destroy: LIVE,” part of the group’s 2025 summer tour, stopped in Cleveland for three nights, each with two shows. I was in attendance at the late show on Friday, Aug 22. The opener for their tour was Emily Wilson, a relatively-unknown solo stand-up comic. Her set was both musical and flashy, mainly consisting of songs meant to rile-up a more woke audience. A stand out song included pointing out the irony of her love for her conservative family while making fun of her emotionally intelligent husband, who must be kind of gay. What she lacked in well-crafted jokes, she made up for in enthusiasm. While not my favorite, this off-color, mildly unsettling style of comedy did set-up the Please Don’t Destroy set fairly well. 

At the start of the Please Don’t Destroy set, it was revealed that Wilson’s kind of gay husband was John Higgins. This compliments the group in another major way: nepotism. Please Don’t Destroy is one of the internet’s favorite nepo baby groups. John Higgins is the son of Steve Higgins, former writer and producer on SNL and current TV personality on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Martin Herlihy is the son of Tim Herlihy, long time collaborator of Adam Sandler. Ben Marshall has no industry ties and grounds the group in a very real way. While these comedians are good and I do enjoy their content, the industry ties should not be dismissed.

This tour is pitched as their own personal workshop. Since they do almost entirely digital sketches for SNL during the show’s production, they are “trying some things” for their live shows. Sketches ranged from sincere to downright odd. They opened the main set on a heartfelt note with “Moving Out,” a sketch about three guys moving out of their shared apartment. They process the anxiety of entering the real world all while trying and comedically failing to express their sadness in the moment. The jokes are simple, but there is real depth to that sketch. As the trio met and began to collaborate at New York University, there likely is something real in this sketch. It’s an endearing start that helps the audience get comfortable with Please Don’t Destroy. 

The rest of Please Don’t Destroy’s set consists of slightly awkward but ultimately enjoyable sketches. A major quirk of the group, both online and live, is their tendency to slip into sketches based more on shock value than well-structured jokes. The sketch “Nerf Adult” showcases a normal man (Marshall) shopping for a Nerf gun for his nephew. In the Nerf aisle, he encounters a supervillain-esque adult man (Herlihy) who is obsessed with Nerf guns. They talk and Marshall’s character is appropriately cautious. Herlihy delivers a perfect parody of an equally sinister and comedic creepy man in the toy section. At the close of the sketch the normal shopper meets one more man in the Nerf aisle, with the punchline being that this one is a pedophile, while the other was just really into Nerf guns. There was another sketch called “Southern” about a man who messes up a job interview because he keeps mocking the interviewer’s Southern accent. Watching someone embarrass themselves and do a bad southern accent is funny; simple as that. In their strangest move, there was an unnamed—to my knowledge—sketch about a tampon serving as a diaper for a penis and how stupid that would be. It was stupid, but it also got a lot of laughs. The reception was likely helped by the fact Marshall was ill and they did the opening to that sketch seven times, with multiple water breaks. Please Don’t Destroy has an immature style of comedy, but sometimes it’s nice to laugh at a group of idiotic almost-30-year-olds.

If nothing else, Please Don’t Destroy attempts to do their research. They made reference to local Cleveland institutions and people such as Happy Dog and the current mayor, Justin Bibb. The trio claimed to “not want to pander,” seemingly poking fun at comedians who claim to deeply care for every city they perform in. None of the Please Don’t Destroy members are from the area. Marshall is from Georgia, Herlihy is from Connecticut and Higgins is from New Jersey. While this local knowledge is never genuine, it is fun to see. It was especially interesting as an out-of-state student who did not understand any of the Ohio or Cleveland references. It was a good bit that eventually devolved into Higgins doing an impression of Bane from “The Dark Knight” trilogy, as none of them knew what Justin Bibb sounded like. As established, I did not either, so this was a wonderful touch. So, while Please Don’t Destroy is deeply awkward, they are at least self-aware and able to poke fun at themselves. They do pretend to be above their audiences, which makes it easier for us to laugh both with and at them.

Please Don’t Destroy has not quite achieved megastardom, despite being on SNL, so while their shows sell out, the ticket pricing is reasonable. Including online fees, tickets ran me about $35, which is standard for the Grog Shop. For B-list comics, Please Don’t Destroy delivers a B-list set with an A-list attitude. They put on a solid show; it’s a good night out. However, watching their sketches on the SNL YouTube channel is both free and more enjoyable. I recommend watching them in their element first.