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    ‘Late Night With Seth Meyers’ Losing House Band Due to Budget Cuts

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    ‘Late Night With Seth Meyers’ Losing House Band Due to Budget Cuts

    Eli Janney, Seth Jabour and Syd Butler will be stepping away when the show kicks off a new season in the fall. 

    Seth Meyers Golden Globes red carpet roll-out, Los Angeles, USA - 04 Jan 2018
    Meher Tatna, Simone Johnson, Seth Meyers, Barry Adelman, Allen Shapiro, Lili Bosse Golden Globes red carpet roll-out, Los Angeles, USA - 04 Jan 2018
    Seth Meyers Golden Globes red carpet roll-out, Los Angeles, USA - 04 Jan 2018
    Image Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBCUniversal

    Late Night With Seth Meyers is going to look and sound a little different this fall. The late-night show’s house band will not be returning for the upcoming season.

    “Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker, the showrunner, brought us in in person to talk about it,” keyboard player Eli Janney shared with Vulture in an interview published Tuesday, June 11. “They expressed their regret and frustration about it. They had been trying to work it out for months, but in the end, NBC was adamant about where they wanted the budget to go. It’s not just the band; there’s a whole crew that works with the band, so there’s a lot of people employed.”

    According to Eli, NBC imposed budget cuts to the show and changes had to be made to the house band, which also includes guitarist Seth Jabour and bassist Syd Butler. Fred Armisen previously served as the bandleader, but has been more of a guest performer in the past few years.

    “Sadly, it’s the reality of broadcast and a shrinking market — streaming eating into this, and YouTube eating into that,” Eli explained. “Budgets everywhere have been cut and cut and cut… Music gets devalued.”

    Eli Janney, Fred Armisen, Kim Thompson, Syd Butler and Seth Jabour of the 8G Band
    Eli Janney, Fred Armisen, Kim Thompson, Syd Butler and Seth Jabour of the 8G Band (Peter Kramer/NBC/Getty Images)

    The band has been a part of Late Night with Seth Meyers for all 11 seasons the show has been on the air.  In his interview, Eli said viewers will still be able to hear the 8G Band because they plan to record “a whole bunch” of music for the show to use for guest introductions and returns from commercial breaks.

    When looking at the current list of network late-night shows, only CBS’ After Midnight operates without a house band. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Conan O’Brien’s TBS show didn’t have a band for its final years when it turned into a half-hour show.

    Last month, Seth extended his deal with NBCUniversal through 2028. The news came just months after he celebrated the 10th anniversary of Late Night With Seth Meyers.

    “Over the last 10 years, Seth has resonated with his audience night after night with a sharp monologue and established segments such as A Closer Look and Day Drinking,” Katie Hockmeyer, executive vp late-night programming at NBCUniversal Entertainment, said in a statement to THR. “We’re so happy to continue this legacy franchise with Seth at the helm and watch him continue to elevate the success of Late Night.”

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