Of the many questions facing Seth Meyers on the eve of taking over Late Night, “How does one top the Roots?†was maybe the hardest to answer. On Twitter, earlier today, Meyers revealed his plan and it’s a pretty great one. According to Meyers, Fred Armisen “will curate and lead the band, and continue to run it even when he’s off shooting Portlandia.†The news has been confirmed by NBC PR. Considering Meyers and Armisen spent many years at SNL together, including during Armisen’s many character bits on “Weekend Update,†hopefully this will mean Armisen will also act as the show’s sidekick — like a hipster Paul Shaffer. It’s also good to know that if Armisen doesn’t prepare one night, he could bring Kristen Wiig on and the two can just wing it.
Update: The band will also include Les Savy Fav’s Seth Jabour and Syd Butler on guitar and bass, respectively; Girls Against Boys’ Eli Janney on keyboard; and session drummer Kimberly Thompson, who’s worked for artists like Beyoncé.