Writer and performer Martin Herlihy is leaving Saturday Night Live after five seasons, the latest in a string of exits that has reshaped the show's roster heading into its 52nd year on NBC.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported Herlihy's departure. The 27-year-old served as both a writer and an on-camera performer, best known as one-third of the comedy trio Please Don't Destroy alongside Ben Marshall and John Higgins. NBC has not publicly commented on his exit. No reason for the departure has been given, and Herlihy himself has not issued a public statement.
His leaving further thins a cast and writing staff already gutted by more than half a dozen departures since SNL wrapped its landmark 50th season. Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and Michael Longfellow all left after that milestone run. Chloe Fineman, who joined in 2019 and spent seven seasons on the show, departed in July. Bowen Yang left last December to pursue a Broadway debut and focus on his podcast, Las Culturistas.
Herlihy's exit leaves Ben Marshall as the sole remaining member of Please Don't Destroy still on the SNL payroll. Marshall was promoted to full-time cast member. John Higgins, the trio's third member, left the show last year during what the source described as a large-scale cast turnover.
The trio built a following with pre-taped digital shorts that became a reliable audience draw during live broadcasts. Whether the group continues to collaborate outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza remains an open question, none of the three has addressed it publicly.
Herlihy comes from SNL royalty. His father, Tim Herlihy, was one of the show's head writers in the mid-1990s.
Chloe Fineman, the most prominent recent exit, released a written statement in July after seven seasons. She joined SNL in 2019 for the 45th season and earned a promotion to full-time cast member in 2021.
"It's really hard to leave SNL but it does feel like the right time. I'm going to miss it a lot. But the people who work there are my family and that place is my home, and I know I'll never be too far away."
Fineman described the job as "the greatest privilege of my life" and wrote that she is "forever in debt" to creator Lorne Michaels.
"Every day I was lucky enough to be surrounded by the best people in the business, and I was constantly amazed watching them work."
Gracious words. But the volume of exits tells its own story. At least seven named performers have walked away in a compressed window, and the show has yet to announce a comparable wave of new hires to fill the gaps.
NBC is pressing ahead. Knicks star Jalen Brunson will host the Season 52 premiere on September 26, with global girl group KATSEYE as the musical guest. Actress Dakota Johnson is confirmed to host the October 3 episode. Shane Gillis and Inde Navarrette are also slated to host upcoming episodes, though NBC has not announced specific dates. Musical guests Rosalia and Gracie Abrams are lined up as well.
The premiere lineup suggests NBC wants star power to paper over the turnover. Whether a rebuilt cast can hold the audience that tuned in for the 50th-anniversary celebration is another matter entirely.
SNL has survived cast overhauls before, the show has been cycling through performers since 1975. But the pace and scale of these departures, stacked one on top of another in the span of roughly a year, amount to something closer to a rebuild than a refresh. Viewers tuning in on September 26 will see a very different show from the one that took its final bow last season.
Institutions that bleed talent that fast usually have a reason. NBC just hasn't shared one yet.
