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Gifted Youth signs Martin Herlihy
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The creative production company have announced the director has joined its roster for US commercial representation.
Full-service creative production company Gifted Youth have announced that Martin Herlihy has joined its roster for US commercial representation.
Herlihy is a comedian, actor, and writer whose blend of absurdist humour, unpredictable characters, and unmistakably unconventional point of view has carved out a distinctive place in modern comedy.
Herlihy’s offbeat sensibility and sharp comedic instincts are exhibited in his work as one-third of the comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy, alongside Ben Marshall and John Higgins. Please Don’t Destroy helped transform internet sketch comedy for a new generation on Saturday Night Live with films like The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, The Running Man, and Happy Gilmore 2. He spent five years as a writer at SNL, and it was Lorne Michaels himself who originally encouraged Herlihy to direct.
He began by directing sketches at SNL, and spent a lot of time in the editing room. He studied pieces he’d written and watched pre-tapes and live performances to see how they landed with audiences to learn how to give jokes the best chance to land authentically.
Most recently, Herlihy directed J.Crew’s We Take Suiting Seriously campaign film, expanding his directing into commercial filmmaking. His goal was to combine the frenetic but naturalistic comedy style people know from Please Don’t Destroy with a slightly more stylised aesthetic that matched the tone of the brand’s suiting campaigns.
“Each project demands its own style, but my first thought is always ‘how can I make sure this joke lands?’” said Herlihy. “My goal is to deliver big, silly comedy in packages that feel personal and unique. I think Gen Z is hungry for goofy comedy, and it also needs to feel authored and made by humans. That, I think, is especially true of commercials. Gifted Youth is the perfect fit for this and for my next chapter; plus Jake Szymanski told me he’d share his secret for growing that mustache.”
“Martin finds the funny in the chaotic,” said Josh Morse, Executive Producer, Gifted Youth. “He’s a comic force, and he’s extremely dedicated to his craft. We’re excited to build on his recent work with J.Crew, and bring his unique brand of humor to brands and agencies.”
