According to the Hollywood Reporter, Seth Meyers has tapped fellow SNL-alum and Portlandia creator/star Fred Armisen to lead the band on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" now that Jimmy Fallon and The Roots have moved onto the "Tonight Show" vacated by Jay Leno.
It's seems like a strange choice on the surface, but remember that Armisen was playing in bands (drummer in Trenchmouth) before he was doing comedy, has played music on SNL, released music as one of his SNL character, performed live with Joanna Newsom in 2011, and recorded with Les Savy Fav. Also he played drums with Blue Man Group. Seriously. And his middle name is Tobias. That last part's not true. But it is true that he has a long list of credentials as a musician.
Speaking of Les Savy Fav, the picture above seems to indicate that Seth Jabour and Syd Butler of Les Savy Fav, Eli Janney of Girls Against Boys, and Kim Thompson of Beyonce's band will round out what is being called the 8G Band.
Meyers tweeted out yesterday that Armisen will "curate and lead the band and continue to run it even when he's off shooting Portlandia." So no fear Portlandia fanatics, that's not over yet.
Late Night premieres with new host and new band on Monday February 24.