Saturday Night Live alum Fred Armisen will serve as bandleader on Late Night when Seth Meyers takes over as host of the show Feb. 24. Meyers made the announcement via Twitter.
"Here's the first photo of the new @LateNightSeth band! #8GBand," Meyers tweeted Monday along with a pic of band members, including Armisen. Meyers then followed up with a tweet referencing Armisen and his IFC series Portlandia. "Fred will curate and lead the band, and continue to run it even when he's off shooting Portlandia. #8GBand."
Meyers and Armisen were SNL castmates for more than a decade, with Meyers joining in 2001 and Armisen signing on a year later. Armisen left the show at the end of last season. Meyers’ final episode was Feb. 1.
Meyers told reporters at the TCA winter press tour last month that his show would have a house band, but that he and his team were "still figuring it out." He also said that while he recognized Late Night's historical strength as a platform for musicians, he does not share his predecessor Jimmy Fallon's musical instincts.
"I should admit that I am not the same kind of music aficionado as Jimmy," Meyers said, adding that he and producer Mike Shoemaker would rely on their music booker to line up musical guests for the show. "One of the things that Mike and I feel like we are very good at is we know what we are not experts in, and we try to surround ourselves with people that we trust."
Armisen has regularly performed musical numbers on SNL and in live performances. IFC ordered two more seasons ofPortlandia—the sketch comedy series created by and starring Armisen and Sleater-Kinney guitarist and singer Carrie Brownstein—in June. The show's fourth season will premiere Feb. 27.
