A little after seven on Saturday, Schine Student Center was abuzz with students anxiously waiting to see comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy. Freshman Sydney Trapp was thrilled by the opportunity to see some of her favorite comedians live.

“I ran down my dorm hall with no shoes on to get tickets,” Trapp said.

Please Don’t Destroy headlined University Union’s Night of Comedy alongside Chloe Troast and Jamie Linn Watson. The comedy group, which features Martin Herlihy, Ben Marshall and John Higgins, is best known for writing original skits that have been featured on Saturday Night Live, notably their viral skit “Three Sad Virgins” featuring Pete Davidson and Taylor Swift. The comedians met during their undergrad career at New York University, and have been making comedy ever since.

Watson took to the stage first, running onstage and performing stand-up. She used her set as an opportunity to interact with her audience, even inviting a male audience member onstage to play opposite her in a romantic scene about a stranger who saved her on the subway. In the scene, the man eventually brings her to upstate New York, or as she describes it, “the most romantic place on Earth.”

Troast’s set immediately followed Watson’s, including stand-up and two impressions of people the audience had likely encountered before — a contentious professor and a jock trying out for the school play.

Please Don’t Destroy closed out the night, with Herlihy sliding onto the stage and Higgins running laps around the audience. Despite Marshall being absent due to sickness, Herlihy and Higgins captivated their audience.

The comedians performed six original sketches that didn’t make the cut for SNL, with Watson and Troast filling in for Marshall. At the end of each sketch, the audience tried to guess which sketches were pitched to different hosts, while choking back laughter.

The group also talked about their experience with Taylor Swift when she was a musical guest on SNL. Higgins could not hold in the flood of compliments he had for the “superstar.”

“She was really really cool,” Higgins said. “She even invited us to her birthday party… but I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

The four comedians returned to the stage after their sets for a Q&A hosted by University Union. When asked about their favorite sketch that they wrote for SNL, Herlihy immediately responded with “Garlic Aioli,” a skit they wrote in collaboration with comedian Will Forte. Though SNL never produced the skit, they performed it for the crowd with help from a student volunteer.

“(It) was the hardest I’ve ever laughed,” Herlihy said.

Higgins mentioned the Weekend Update jokes they write for comedian Sarah Sherman on the show.

“It’s hard to feel pride for yourself on the show because it’s just so weird and scary, but doing it with somebody else performing, I feel so much pride for her, she’s so funny,” Higgins said.

The show concluded with Higgins and Herlihy sharing the advice they would offer to their younger selves, or to others who hope to break into the comedy space.

Herlihy emphasized the importance of getting up onstage and performing, and Higgins immediately agreed. Higgins also said the people he surrounded himself with elevated his work.

“Find people that you trust and think are funny, because you will come up with a voice together, and it makes it a lot easier,” Higgins said. “You learn a lot more with working with people you trust and love.”

John Higgins closed out the night with some advice for students as they navigate their early 20s and early adulthood.

“Believe in yourself, believe in your friends, and never give up,” he said.

Published on September 25, 2022 at 11:02 pm