Actress Dakota Johnson slayed audiences on Saturday Night Live as January 2024 drew to a close, trending online after calling superstar musician Taylor Swift the “most powerful woman” in the world. But for deepcut comedy fans, the most incisive comic moment was Johnson’s insult-trading session with the comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy.
Johnson — star of Madame Web, 50 Shades of Grey and numerous other big Hollywood films — also must be identified for the purposes of this story as the daughter of actor Don Johnson and actress Melanie Griffith, herself the daughter of Golden Age Hollywood royalty Tippi Hedren. That makes Dakota a “nepo baby” with multiple generations of luminary pedigree. (Also, her former stepfather is Antonio Banderas.) But the three “regular” guys she exchanges insults with?
Two out of the three Please Don’t”t Destroy members are also nepo-aided, which is what makes the moment in the video below, when Johnson calls for a “nepo truce” such a funny inside, self-mocking gag.
(NOTE: Please Don’t Destroy work together as writers for SNL.)
Dakota Johnson and Please Don’t Destroy, the world is simply not appreciative of the of the comedic geniuses that you all are: #SNL pic.twitter.com/WQHuytr1um
— (🥹) (@notpunnyhunny) January 28, 2024
The truce leaves out comedian Ben Marshall, the only walked-in-off-the-street player in the skit, who expresses a funny sad faux lament as being excluded from the nepo action. The other two members of Please Don’t Destroy came into the business on the golden escalator built by their successful entertainment business parentage — not to say they haven’t earned it out.
John Higgins is the son of Steve Higgins, an SNL producer — and writer — who has worked with Jimmy Fallon and countless celebrity comic entertainers.
But the trio’s big glow up during the hands-in truce — “a foot in the door and so much more” — is really amp’d up by the participation of Martin Herlihy, son of John Herlihy, longtime creative partner of comedian Adam Sandler, who is among the highest grossing actors in history. (One of Hollywood’s richest performers, Sandler made the Forbes 10 highest-paid actors list all but one year from 2015 to 2020.)
John Herlihy’s films, often co-written with Sandler, have grossed over $3 billion at the worldwide box office. They include Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, and Grown Ups 2, among many others. Dakota’s Johnson’s “nepo truce.”
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