James Franco and Fred Armisen, artists. Photo: Getty

A couple of weeks ago, it came as a fairly big surprise when the news came out that Fred Armisen would be heading up the band at Late Night With Seth Meyers. Though the two are old pals and Armisen has a proclivity for playing music, it still felt like an unexpected move for someone with a successful career on his hand. Talking in the most recent issue of The Hollywood Reporter, Armisen explains the decision. It was pretty simple, with Lorne Michaels first broaching the subject and then Armisen having a meeting with Meyers and the show’s producers. Armisen boiled the move down to a desire to just try new things, saying, “I like to think, ‘What would [Flaming Lips front man] Wayne Coyne do?’” He continued, raising the stakes, “Also, and I really mean this, ‘What would James Franco do?’ because James Franco has turned his life into a real art project. In my opinion, that’s the way to live.” We guess art-living is something that can be transferred through kissing: