Ben Marshall has officially joined Saturday Night Live’s 100-sketch club—but unlike most performers to reach the milestone, more than a third of his appearances came before he was even a member of the cast.
Marshall made his 100th SNL sketch appearance in “Shark Tank” during Saturday night’s Season 52 premiere, his fifth appearance of the night.
The milestone caps an unusual journey for Marshall, who spent his first four seasons at SNL as a writer and on-camera member of Please Don’t Destroy alongside Martin Herlihy and John Higgins.
Marshall, Herlihy, and Higgins joined SNL’s writing staff in 2021, with Please Don’t Destroy’s fast-paced pretaped shorts quickly becoming a recurring part of the show. Over the next four seasons, the trio appeared together in 34 shorts, often playing versions of themselves opposite that week’s host or musical guest.
That gave Marshall a sizable head start before he was promoted to featured player ahead of Season 51.
His first year in the cast accelerated the count considerably. Marshall appeared in 61 aired sketches over Season 51, ending the year with 95 career appearances—just five short of the century mark.
Marshall’s 2025 promotion coincided with the end of Please Don’t Destroy’s run inside SNL. Higgins left the show ahead of Season 51, while Herlihy remained on the writing staff and produced several solo shorts under the banner “A Film by Martin Herlihy.” Herlihy departed SNL himself ahead of Season 52, leaving Marshall as the only member of the trio still working at the show.
Please Don’t Destroy itself remains intact outside Studio 8H, with Marshall, Higgins, and Herlihy continuing to perform together live even as all three pursue their own projects.
