Fereydun Robert Armisen born December 4, is an American actor, comedian, musician, and writer. Armisen was the bandleader and frequent drummer for the Late Night with Seth Meyers house band, the 8G Band from to He is known as a cast member on the late-night sketch comedy and variety series Saturday Night Live from to He has also won two Peabody Awards , one in as part of the Saturday Night Live political satire cast [ 1 ] and one in for Portlandia.
Armisen's mother was Venezuelan, born in San Fernando de Apure , [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] while his father was born in Soltau to a German mother and Korean father. However, Masami better known by his professional name Masami Kuni or birth name Park Yeong-in [ 11 ] [ 13 ] was actually Korean and came from Ulsan ; he adopted a Japanese name and persona after the massacre of Koreans in when he was a high school student. He eventually emigrated to the US, where he taught dance at what is now Cal State Fullerton from to In , Armisen played drums in a local band along with his high school friends in Valley Stream, New York , but the group soon ended.
In , he moved to Chicago to play drums for the punk rock band Trenchmouth , [ 16 ] and in the s he played background drums with Blue Man Group. Armisen is the music director and frequent drummer [ 20 ] of the 8G Band , the house band for Late Night with Seth Meyers , since February 24, They will still pre-record music for the show, but will not perform live.
While not playing with the band Trenchmouth, Armisen's interests switched to acting. In a January interview, he said, "I wanted to be on TV somehow. For some reason, I always thought it would be an indirect route; I didn't know that it would be comedy and Saturday Night Live. I just wanted to do something with performing that would lead me there. Armisen's subsequent television work, such as some "memorable Andy Kaufman —esque appearances" [ 27 ] on Late Night with Conan O'Brien , as well as work for Crank Yankers and Adult Swim , led to a role in as a featured player in the cast of Saturday Night Live.
Further television work included an appearance on Parks and Recreation in the episode " Sister City ". Since , Armisen has been music director and sometimes bandleader and drummer on Late Night with Seth Meyers , for which he received positive reviews for his deadpan comedy and especially for his interplay with the host.
