This afternoon, Seth Meyers tweeted out the following photo of Late Night’s 8G Band, which surprisingly included Portlandia star Fred Armisen. “Fred will curate and lead the band, and continue to run it even when he’s off shooting Portlandia,” Meyers explained after posting the picture, which sounds as weirdly delightful as it does exciting. No more specifics on Fred’s new curatorial Late Night gig yet, but this sounds like an awfully wonderful hiring.
This is not the only new musical gig for Armisen. A little over two weeks ago, it was announced that he’d be releasing a series of 7” singles from all his fake SNL bands. To get a feel for what Fred might bring to the 8G Band on Late Night, click through to watch some of his best fake SNL band sketches:
UPDATE: A rep at NBC has confirmed the members of the 8G Band with Fred Armisen. From left to right in the photo, the band includes Seth Jabour (Les Savy Fav) on guitar, Kimberly Thompson (session drummer who has played for Beyoncé, amongst many others) on drums, Eli Janney (Girls Against Boys) on keyboards, and Syd Butler (Les Savy Fav) on bass.
UPDATE 2: Fred Armisen had the following to say about his fellow 8G bandmates:
I have always been a fan of Girls Against Boys, Les Savy Fav, and Beyoncé. Eli Janney is such a huge part of making that deep, dense sound that Girls Against Boys are known for. Les Savy Fav are so great. Their live shows are among some of the best I’ve ever seen. Syd and Seth are the perfect mix of noisy and melodic. Kim Thompson is an incredible drummer. Getting to watch her play is the best thing ever.
When pressed for details on his role as band leader, Armisen had this to say: “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to write a TV show theme.”
