Conan O’Brien, Bowen Yang Join Comedy From SNL’s Please Don’t Destroy

Saturday Night Live writers Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy — who broke out as the comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy — have cast some SNL royalty in their upcoming film. According to THR, Conan O’Brien and Bowen Yang have both joined the cast of the as-yet-untitled project, which also stars Meg Statler (Hacks), X Mayo (The Daily Show), and Nichole Sakura (Superstore). The film reportedly centers on three childhood friends who head off to a nearby mountain in search of treasure rumored to be buried there. Production on the film started up earlier this month in North Carolina. Rounding out the roster of SNL-related talent, Paul Briganti is directing.

Marshall, Higgins and Herlihy wrote the script, and will star as the trio at the center of the film. No word exactly on what roles the others will be playing.

This is a case of a Saturday Night Live-centric cast, but not a SNL movie, per se. This is not a case of The Blues Brothers or Coneheads, where the movie is based on a sketch that previously appeared on the show.

O’Brien started his career at Saturday Night Live, before heading to The Simpsons and writing some key episodes in that show’s early seasons. SNL creator Lorne Michaels was key in helping him land Late Night after David Letterman left NBC for CBS, and he would work in late night for 28 years after that, having recently concluded Conan. Currently, he hosts Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, and recently sold Team Coco, his digital media company, to SiriusXM. He has a comedy series coming soon to HBO Max.

Yang became a star at SNL, too, but as a performer more than a writer (although he does both). He recently appeared in the films Fire Island and Bros, and and is a cast member on Awkwafina is Nora from Queens.

No word yet on a release window for the still-in-production movie.