WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 11: Max Weinberg performs with Bruce Springteen and and the E Street Band perform in concert on November 11, 2007 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.
For the first time in his late night career, Conan O’Brien will helm a show without band leader Max Weinberg.
Weinberg will not be joining Conan for his upcoming TBS show debuting Nov. 8 by ‘mutual agreement’ it was announced Monday. Weinberg, a former member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, formed The Max Weinberg 7 in 1993 when Conan took over NBC’s Late Night and the later Max Weinberg and The Tonight Show Band during Conan’s short-lived stint as host of The Tonight Show. “Max has been a huge part of my life for the past 17 years and he is an incredible band leader and musician,” Conan said in a statement. “I hope he can find time to stop by the new show, sit in with the band, and pretend to find my monologue funny.”
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Earlier, it was speculated that band would follow Conan to TBS, with all but Weinberg’s involvement in question – probably because he didn’t follow the rest of the band onto the road for Conan’s Legally Prohibited From Being Funny Tour. “17 years–a lifetime on TV. Conan and I met on a New York City street corner in the Spring of 1993 and my association with Conan, his staff, and crew has been a deeply rewarding experience for me,” Weinberg said in a statement. “I thank them for their first rate work on the bandstand. I wish Conan and his show the best and I do look forward to dropping by.”