Saturday Night Live is gearing up for season 52 later this month, but the sketch show will be without a familiar face. One of the show's most popular performers will depart Studio 8H ahead of the new season.
According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, Martin Herlihy is saying goodbye to Saturday Night Live. The news comes ahead of the new season premiere scheduled for September 26.
Herlihy joined Saturday Night Live in 2021 as one-third of the comedy group Please Don't Destroy alongside Ben Marshall and John Higgins. However, he was already very familiar with the show as his father, Tim Herlihy, was a writer and producer at SNL during the '90s.
Working primarily as a writer, Herlihy appeared in dozens of Digital Shorts after Please Don't Destroy picked up the torch left behind by The Lonely Island. When Higgins left Saturday Night Live in 2025 and Marshall joined the cast full-time, Herlihy remained a writer and produced his own sketch series where he continued to play himself.
So why leave Saturday Night Live now? The Hollywood Reporter's sources did not cite an exact explanation. But Herlihy, who turns 28 later this month, has been finding plenty of work outside of the NBC sketch show over the past few years in addition to continued touring with Please Don't Destroy.
His recent credits include Happy Gilmore 2 with his father's long-time collaborator Adam Sandler, the Glen Powell-led movie Running Man, the Netflix comedy Roommates written by Saturday Night Live scribes Jimmy Fowlie and Ceara O'Sullivan, and the Nate Bargatze comedy The Breadwinner.
Herlihy's departure leaves a void in Saturday Night Live's content when it comes to prerecorded sketches. The end of the Please Don't Destroy era means someone will have to step up and follow in the footsteps of The Lonely Island as well as Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney.
Perhaps Saturday Night Live and Lorne Michaels will turn to new cast members to fill those shoes. But if the show wants to look in-house, current cast members like Veronika Slowikowska or Jeremy Culhane could be candidates.
Herlihy leaves after earning credits in over 80 episodes of Saturday Night Live. His most memorable contributions include "The Sound" with Shane Gillis, "Roast" with Dakota Johnson, "Bad Bunny is Shrek," and "Three Sad Virgins" with Pete Davidson and Taylor Swift.
Saturday Night Live season 52 premieres September 26 on NBC. No cast additions, host or musical guest have been announced.
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