Fred Armisen will lead Seth Meyer's new Late Night house band when it hits the air in two weeks

Former SNL star Fred Armisen is joining his friend Seth Meyers as the band leader for the new Late Night show

Armisen is best known as an actor but started his career as a musician

Will continue to shoot his show Portlandia



Seth Meyers has announced that he is stacking his new Late Night team with familiar faces including his fellow Saturday Night Live alum Fred Armisen.

Armisen, known best for his acting chops on Portlandia and impersonations of President Obama and Joy Behar, actually started his career as a musician and plays the drums and guitar.

The surprising pick was announced on Twitter by Meyers Monday and later confirmed by NBC.

Working together: Fred Armisen and Seth Meyers were colleagues on SNL for 11 years and now will continue working together on Late Night when Seth Meyers takes over the reins on February 24

Surprise: Meyers was the one to make the announcement about his musical staff on Monday afternoon

'Fred will curate and lead the band, and continue to run it even when he's off shooting Portlandia,' Meyers wrote to his more than 2.2 million followers.

The tweet was completed with the hashtag #8GBand, showing that the name of the group is inspired by the studio name where the show will be filmed.



Armisen is the second-longest SNL cast member, losing the title to his new boss, Meyers, who was on the variety program for 13 years while Armisen was a cast member for 11 years.



The news comes as NBC's late night line up goes through some serious changes as Jimmy Fallon is due to start hosting The Tonight Show next Monday.

With Fallon moving to the earlier time slot, Meyers was chosen to take over the Late Night slot.

Fallon is bringing his much-loved band, The Roots, with him to the Tonight Show which gives Meyers the chance to stock his own crew.

Switching it up: Armisen is known best for his acting but he actually started his career as a musician and will not be stopping his work on Portlandia once he takes on the house band role

Passing the... pickle? Jimmy Fallon is leaving his post at Late Night and taking over The Tonight Show and Meyers was selected as his replacement (seen here with the 'Late Night pickle' during a January 28 show)

The Roots and their leader Questlove are widely considered to be among the best in house bands in late night history considering they have won three Grammy Awards and a host of other honors in their multi-decade history.

Arimsen and Questlove had a good-natured drum off when he appeared as a guest on Fallon's show in January 2013, proving that the comedic actor could hold his own.