I was really surprised a while back when Conan O’Brien announced that Max Weinberg wouldn’t be on the show for a while because he was touring with the E Street Band.
Has he always been part of the band? I saw Springsteen and the Band in concert a couple times back in the 80s, but didn’t know any of the members except for Clarence Clemmons.
If he wasn’t always part of the band, how would he have gotten the gig?
And besides, the Conan gig is a sweet one. It pays decently, he gets to wear snazzy suits, he’s got a drumset with his name on it, the camera zooms in on him during the post-monologue music (twice, every single time, from two different angles, by contract) and he gets to be the butt of ridicule.