The Saturday Night Live comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy, made up of the comedians Martin Herlihy, John Higgins, and Ben Marshall, have been making waves in the sketch comedy show for the past few years. Their absurd, fast-paced sketches are some of the funniest pre-recorded videos SNL has ever put out. The trio’s comic timing and writing talent help create the most bonkers and hilarious sketches of recent memory. Take “Three Sad Virgins” starring Pete Davison, and Taylor Swift, and “Future Selves” for example. Now, the trio have a new movie, Please Don’t Destroy: The Legend of Foggy Mountain, which debuted on Peacock November 17th.

While primarily written by the Please Don’t Destroy trio, prolific SNL director, Paul Briganti, came on board as the film’s director, assisting in much of the films re-writes. Briganti has a deep history with comedy, specifically SNL. He’s behind some recent great sketches, like “Dunkin’ Donuts” starring Casey Affleck,” and a sketch parodying Joker with David Harbour as Oscar the Grouch. Therefore, Briganti was a perfect choice to help the Please Don’t Destroy guys bring their movie to life.

MovieWeb recently sat with director Paul Briganti to discuss the movie, and what it was like working with Judd Apatow and a talented comedic cast.

Working with Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow is one of the most beloved comedy movie directors of the 2000s, giving us gems like 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. Although primarily a producer on The Treasure of Foggy Creek, according to Briganti, Apatow was heavily involved in the film’s production, commenting, “Yeah, he was [involved]. He’s done this many times […] and he was really supportive.” Briganti added:

He was very involved in the kind of writing and re-writing and [would] pitch things and would support and help that way.

“And then, in pre-production, he was still involved in a writing sense, because it all happened very quickly,” said Briganti. “So we were all grinding on the script, and rewriting and fixing and trying to beat stuff. And then, when we were shooting, he came on set for a few days. He came for the first week of shooting, and kind of made sure everyone was feeling good. And then he took a little bit of a backseat for us to finish the shoot.”

Peacock

“And then, in post, he became more involved, as we were like, testing the movie and trying new things, and trying new edits and stuff,” added Briganti, before continuing by complimenting Apatow’s support, despite his big name. “And it was great. He was very supportive. And for someone as big a name as him, he didn’t have to be so respectful.” According to Briganti, Apatow “was very much like a coach” to him, constantly giving helpful tips in terms of getting the best from the actors, and how to handle the many lines of improv. Briganti explained:

“He helped a lot with that, especially with ways to navigate the improvised stuff, like what to look out for. Say someone improvises something really funny, but it’s kind of wordy and kind of long — you want to get the cleanest version of this. If you really liked something, make sure you get the best version of it, [and] it’s really tight. He used a lot of stuff like that, like pointers.”

Related: Here’s Every Judd Apatow Film, Ranked

“For improv and stuff, he has this system of transcribing everything on set that people improvise,” said Briganti. “We had a transcriber with us just writing everything [the actors are] saying. So when you’re getting new angles and new coverage, you can look through the improv and get the stuff that you all liked.”

“[Apatow’s] very efficient, he’s very much efficiently figured out how to shoot like that,” added the filmmaker. “And there are other things where my style differed a little bit from his. I like to do a more active kind of [comedy]. I liked the stuff when they’re running around and getting chased, and he was really excited about that.”

Peacock

When working with a cast as comedically talented as the one in Foggy Mountain, the likelihood that they’d totally stay on script is fairly low. So, when asked how much of the film was improvised, Briganti explained, “It’s hard to say. I mean, I’d probably say like 50/50.”

Briganti continued:

“That was also [something] Judd said that really helped. He was like, ‘The more you prepare, the more you do, and the more you rehearse, and the more you bring other writer friends to come and pitch things and throw things around, as long as you record it all and take it down and suck in as many things as possible, the better you’ll be on the set.'”

Related: These Iconic Movie Moments Were Actually Improvised

Mentioning one of his favorite scenes, Briganti went on to explain the help he had from other comedy writers. “When prepping, we just had a couple of writer friends on Zooms, just to kind of go into the scenes and pitching all things,” said Briganti. “There’s a scene where they first meet the park rangers at the rangers’ station, and there’s a thing that Carmen Christopher does, where there’s a guy who he did a gender reveal party that almost started a fire. I think that was my friend Emily Altman’s pitch. She’s a comedy writer, and we were looking for an intro to the scene that’s funny,” commented Briganti.

“So it’s just [throwing] as many things [as possible] at it,” said Briganti before complimenting Apatow’s eye for comedy once again. “I think that was [Apatow’s] thing. As long as you can really edit it later and really pare it down. But his philosophy is just when you’re shooting, more is more is more,” concluded Briganti.

How SNL Compares to Shooting a Movie
Peacock

“They’re very different, but very similar,” commented Briganti on how shooting a feature film compares to directing a sketch on Saturday Night Live. “SNL is [a] sprint. You’re running so fast. It kind of feels like the news. It feels like you’re working [in] journalism. You’re running down hallways with thumb drives and tapes and papers, and changing things last minute, and then it’s on the air, and it’s like this crazy rush. And then you’re done, and it’s the next week.”

“With [Foggy Mountain], it was as intense, but it was just stretched way out. So the emotional experience is the same, but it’s just much longer of an experience,” continued Briganti. “With SNL, to an extent, it’s got this kind of Zen thing to it, where if you had a bad sketch one week or bad video, you take the hit, you take the punch, but then you’re like, ‘There’s always next week,'” explained Briganti.

And with [Foggy Mountain] if you’re filming a scene, and you don’t get the best version of it, it still has to be in the movie. It’s a different kind of anxiety, whereas on SNL, it feels like the stock market or something. It’s [got this] like this crazy intensity [to it]. They’re both addictive in different ways.

If you’re in the mood for a great comedy this weekend, check out Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, which is now available to stream on Peacock. Check out the trailer below and find the link to stream the film:

Stream on Peacock