Where You've Seen The Cast Of Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure Of Foggy Mountain Before

Over the last few seasons of "Saturday Night Live," the comedy troupe Please Don't Destroy have made a name for themselves with their prerecorded sketches. The three-man group is comprised of John Higgins, Martin Herlihy, and Ben Marshall — the first two of which are the sons of "SNL" writer and "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" writer/sidekick Steve Higgins and former "SNL" writer and longtime Adam Sandler creative partner Tim Herlihy, respectively. They formed Please Don't Destroy in 2017 while attending New York University together, and then spent four years making a name for themselves on stage and via social media clips before being hired as "SNL" writers in 2021.

Like The Lonely Island before them — also a comedy trio famous for prerecorded "SNL" shorts as well as helping to popularize a then little-known website called YouTube with their viral "Lazy Sunday" music video — Please Don't Destroy have now taken their talents to film. Originally meant for theatrical release in August 2023, the trio's "Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain" is now set to debut on Peacock on November 17th. The film sees John, Martin, and Ben, seemingly playing versions of themselves, looking for buried treasure in the woods — which of course turns out to be a ridiculous adventure that sees them encountering various wild characters. And many of those characters are played by actors that might look a little familiar. 

John Higgins will obviously be most widely known to audiences at this point for his work in Please Don't Destroy and "Saturday Night Live" as a whole, as well as the undeniable resemblance to his famous father. But that's not the only thing the writer and performer has been up to, nor will "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain" even be his first film. Though not a huge part, he played a hardware store clerk in the Tom Hanks dramedy "A Man Called Otto." He was much more visible in another 2023 comedy called "The Country Club," a coming-of-age film which also featured dad Steve Higgins.

In 2021, Higgins appeared in three episodes of the web series "The Basics," which also featured both of his Please Don't Destroy co-stars as well as a few other "Saturday Night Live" cast members. He appeared as himself in the special "Miley's New Years Eve Party: Legendary" in 2022 — which he also co-wrote — and was a guest on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" in 2023. Higgins also joins his Please Don't Destroy partners in returning to the troupe's roots and taking the show on the road from time to time, something they might not have as much time for if their film careers end up taking off. 

The member of Please Don't Destroy that doesn't have a famous comedy writer for a dad — and also the only one not originally from New York — Ben Marshall is also the group member with the most acting credits under his belt. That said, most of those credits comprise short films and sketches. Also of note is that Marshall made his television debut not on "Saturday Night Live," but on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," as a lipstick model in a sketch featuring guest Drew Barrymore. He was an intern on the show at the time, and has also done intern work for "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" and even the non-comedic "Vice News."

Marshall had also previously appeared on comedy shows that had no connection to NBC or Lorne Michaels, turning up in a 2017 sketch for the series "UCB Comedy Originals." In addition to appearing in the aforementioned "The Basics" alongside John Higgins and Martin Herlihy, Marshall was also a recurring performer for "Above Average Presents," an internet comedy distribution network in a similar vein to "Funny or Die." 

When your father spent seven years as a writer on "Saturday Night Live" and then went on to co-write multiple smash hit movies with Adam Sandler, it's safe to say that comedy is in your blood. That's the case with Martin Herlihy, who has had as good a role model for building a successful comedy writing career as anyone could have by being the son of Tim Herlihy. It also didn't hurt that Tim gave his son Martin one of Martin's first screen credits by casting him as a teenage zombie for Sandler's 2020 Netflix film "Hubie Halloween."

Like his fellow Please Don't Destroy members, Martin Herlihy is best known thus far from "Saturday Night Live." But he also appeared in two episodes of the Fox mockumentary sitcom "Welcome to Flatch" as a character named Chris Jordan, proving he can do more than just sketch comedy and playing exaggerated versions of himself. His dad has only sporadically appeared on screen — typically in his own movies and in cameo-type roles — preferring to primarily be a writer and producer. It'll be interesting to see if Martin goes that same route or if he doubles down on performing as his career progresses.

The trailer for "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain" finds the guys seeking advice from two park rangers on how to find the titular prize — only for the rangers to then take advantage of the situation by trying to get the treasure for themselves first. It would seem as though the two rangers are going to be the biggest characters in the movie beyond John, Ben, and Martin, and one of them will immediately look familiar to anyone who has watched the HBO comedy "Hacks."

The actor in question is Megan Stalter, who plays the recurring role of Kayla — daughter of Jimmy's boss, Michael — on "Hacks." That show is, interestingly enough, about comedy writers and comedians. In addition, actor and comedian Stalter co-hosts the Netflix reality competition series "Snack vs. Chef" and has been a guest judge on "RuPaul's Drag Race." Stalter is also a talented voice performer, doing voicework in 33 episodes of the Paramount+ series "Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out the News." 

Conan O'Brien knows a thing or two about writing for "Saturday Night Live" and then transitioning into a career in front of the camera. After spending some time writing for "SNL" and "The Simpsons" — and "Not Necessarily the News" before that — O'Brien started hosting "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in 1993. He then went on to spend the better part of 30 years being a near-constant presence on late night television hosting various talk shows. Fittingly enough, he plays the dad of fellow redhead Ben Marshall in "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain." 

While his part in the Please Don't Destroy movie seems like it might be his meatiest acting role to date, O'Brien is no stranger to the craft. While the majority of his acting credits see him playing himself, he has portrayed other people from time to time — for instance, artist Andy Warhol in the faux-biopic "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story." Most commonly, however, he does voice roles, including the Riddler in "The Lego Batman Movie," Santa Claus in "The Backyardigans," and Clarence on TBS's "Final Space," which he also executive produced. In 2019, his voice and likeness were used for the character known as The Wandering MC in the video game "Death Stranding." 

Though it's not entirely clear what role Nichole Sakura will be playing in "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain" — especially as she doesn't appear to be present in the only trailer released thus far — she's at the top of the cast list on IMDb, so it would seem as though her role is going to be fairly sizable. Of course, some of that prime billing position could just be due to her being one of the most well-known members of the ensemble. 

Sakura was a series regular for both the NBC workplace comedy "Superstore" and the Hulu sitcom "Maggie" — the latter of which has unfortunately since been removed from the service. The actor also had a noteworthy 17-episode run on Showtime's "Shameless" as Amanda, who had a less than functional relationship with Lip (Jeremy Allen White). She also did both voice and motion capture for the cinematic horror game "Until Dawn." Sakura had previously gone by the stage name Nichole Bloom for much of her career, but began being credited as Nichole Sakura in 2020 to honor her Japanese heritage, as Sakura is her mother's maiden name.

The other of the two park rangers who decide to work against rather than with the main trio in "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain" seems to be named Sullivan, based on her uniform as it's seen in the trailer. Sullivan is played by writer, actor, and comedian X Mayo. X Mayo's first experience with performing came by way of being a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv comedy troupe, which got her noticed and hired by "The Daily Show" as a writer and performer — a job she did for about three years.

Her first major acting role was as a series regular on the comedy series "American Auto," which was created by "Superstore" creator Justin Spitzer and ran for two seasons on NBC between 2021 and 2023. X Mayo also appeared in the films "The Blackening," "Finding 'Ohana," and "The Farewell." In 2023, she starred in an episode of the Prime Video horror comedy series "Swarm." In October of that year, it was reported that X Mayo was one of the candidates being considered to host the CBS remake of Comedy Central's game show "@midnight," which will air in the time slot formerly occupied by "The Late Late Show with James Corden."

Another actor who is confirmed to be playing a part in "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain" is Jordan Mendoza. All that is really known about Mendoza's role in the movie is that he is playing a character named Dylan. The size and/or importance of the part hasn't been revealed at this time.

Regular watchers of Netflix shows have likely seen a fair bit of Mendoza over the last couple of years. The actor played RJ Acosta, Jr. in five of the eight episodes of the streamer's twisty heist drama "Kaleidoscope," and is a series regular as Felix on the 2023 comedy "Neon." Mendoza also appeared in the Jennifer Lawrence raunch-com "No Hard Feelings." On top of acting, Mendoza is also a prolific TV writer — he not only penned an episode of "Neon" but has also written for "Beavis and Butt-head," the animated series "Human Resources," the Showtime talk show "Ziwe," and Hulu's "Dave," starring rapper and comedian Dave "Lil Dicky" Burd.

Things take a dark turn for our heroes during the course of "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain," as the trailer shows them ending up at the camp of a seemingly dangerous cult. While Bowen Yang — more on him later — is the most prominent cult member shown, it's easy to also catch a few glimpses of actor Cedric Yarbrough as one of the group's purple-clad heavies.

A television veteran, Yarbrough was most recently a recurring regular on nostalgia sitcom "The Goldbergs." He was also a main cast member on the three-season ABC sitcom "Speechless," where he played the big-hearted aide to JJ (Micah Fowler). But there's no denying that Yarbrough's most famous role to date has been that of Deputy Jones on "Reno 911!," a part he has played for nearly 20 years across various series, specials, and even a theatrical film. 

Among the non-"Reno 911!" movies that the actor has appeared in are "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Drillbit Taylor," "Get Smart," "Four Christmases," and "Meet the Fockers." Additionally, Yarbrough has lent his distinctive voice to "BoJack Horseman," "The Boondocks," and "Paradise PD," among many other animated projects on both the big and small screen.

Another of the cultists that can be spotted during the "Treasure of Foggy Mountain" trailer is played by actor Sunita Mani. Mani has essayed recurring roles in several noteworthy series, including Netflix's "Glow," USA Network's "Mr. Robot," and the CBS All Access-turned-Paramount+ series "No Activity." She also had smaller stints on "The Good Place," "The Chris Gethard Show," and "Search Party."

Like many of the actors associated with this project, Mani also has roots in sketch and improv comedy. After finishing college in 2008, she began a three-year stint with the Upright Citizens Brigade, where she honed her comedic chops. She is recently confirmed to have joined the impressive ensemble of the upcoming dark comedy "Death of a Unicorn," where Mani will work alongside Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Anthony Carrigan, Téa Leoni, and Will Poulter. It won't be her first movie for mini-studio A24 either — she was the queen character in the TV musical that was playing in the laundromat in the acclaimed film "Everything Everywhere All At Once." 

Back to Bowen Yang, who plays the cultist that is first seen smiling and then scowling and brandishing a large knife in the "Treasure of Foggy Mountain" trailer. He's surely not the only "Saturday Night Live" cast member in the movie, but he's seemingly the most prominent and the only one besides the main three to be playing a major role. Yang has been one of the biggest breakout stars of the newest generation of "SNL" players, both a standout in sketches as well as being part of some of the funniest "Weekend Update" viral moments in recent memory.

Thanks to "SNL" loosening the reins in recent years and not making cast members wait until they're done with the show to dive into film and other television work, Yang has already built an impressive acting resume. His film roles include "Bros," "Dicks: The Musical," "The Monkey King," and "The Lost City," while he's appeared in TV shows like "Awkwafina is Nora from Queens," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," "Archer," and "Girls5eva." He has also made multiple guest judging appearances on "RuPaul's Drag Race," and wrote an episode of the acclaimed Apple+ musical series "Schmigadoon!," which stars his former "SNL" co-star Cecily Strong.

Dax Flame is another actor who definitely appears in "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain," but as of now it's not known who he plays or how big his role will be. But he's still worth mentioning here, as he's most certainly someone who you might not know by name or even immediately know by his face — but you're fairly certain you've seen him somewhere before.

Anyone who has seen the 2012 Todd Phillips-produced found footage comedy "Project X" will known Flame as — fittingly enough — Dax, the person controlling the camera and documenting the night's crazy events for most of the film. Beyond that, he is easily best known for his YouTube channel, Daxflame, which – according to him — was one of the most subscribed channels of all time in the late 2000s, when he was still in his teens. He maintains that channel to this day, and has also since expanded his internet empire to include Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) accounts. On the acting side, Flame also played Zack in both "21 Jump Street" and "22 Jump Street."

John Goodman needs no introduction. Even if you didn't know in advance that he was the narrator of "The Treasure of Foggy Mountain," you'll recognize his iconic voice a few words in. It's the kind of voice you get when you want to lend your project a bit of gravitas — but also rest assured that the bringer of said gravitas also knows his way around comedy. And there is no questioning Goodman's comedy bona fides.

Goodman first rose to mainstream fame as Dan Connor on the trailblazing sitcom "Roseanne" — a role he reprised for both the short-lived "Roseanne" revival and its follow-up series, "The Conners." He's also recently been killing it as the patriarch of the titular family at the center of HBO's "The Righteous Gemstones." But Goodman has done plenty of iconic work on the big screen as well, most notably through his many collaborations with the Coen Brothers. On top of playing the brilliantly frustrating Walter Sobchak in "The Big Lebowski," Goodman has also stolen scenes in "Raising Arizona," "O Brother Where Art Thou?," and "Barton Fink," to name a few. 

Apart from his work with the Coens, Goodman played Fred Flinstone in the live-action film adaptation of "The Flinstones," portrayed the titular subject of the biopic "The Babe," and has voiced fuzzy blue monster Sully across multiple Pixar projects. Oh, and — bringing this full circle — he's also hosted "SNL" an astounding 13 times.