A ‘Saturday Night Live’ reunion! Fred Armisen to become Seth Meyers’ bandleader

How is this for a major surprise today? Seth Meyers is apparently going to be bringing a major part of “Saturday Night Live” history to his new edition of “Late Night,” as he has booked former cast member Fred Armisen to be the head honcho in charge of his band.

Fred’s G8 Band will accompany Seth on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” much in the way that The Roots do on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” even if there is one complication with it in that Armisen already has another full-time job over on “Portlandia.” Seth’s explanation for what will happen in this instance? As he shared on Twitter, “Fred will curate and lead the band, and continue to run it even when he’s off shooting Portlandia.” The way we interpret this is that Fred will be a part of the show when he can, but still be involved even when he is busy with his other commitments.

Even if this means that Armisen will not be around for every show, this seems to be a pretty brilliant choice. While he was never our favorite “SNL” cast member, he is a gifted musician who was involved in that world even before he became a comedy fixture. He’s going to bring a ton of musical knowledge to the show, and can also be used for sketches and comedy moments whenever Seth sees fit. To us, there really was no better choice for Seth if his primary goal here was to find a way to ensure that there were as many people interested in watching the show as humanly possible. Now, he’s basically got the entire “SNL” following on lock for at least one show to see what happens … especially since Amy Poehler is going to be his first guest.

What do you think about this news, and do you predict by the end of the week that Jason Sudeikis will be the announcer and Brooks Wheelan will be the guy you wished had more screen time on this, too? Share below, and sign up now for our CarterMatt Newsletter to get even more TV updates sent straight to you.

Photo: NBC