Fred Armisen is switching careers for the night…

In a throwback to the sponsor segments of television’s earliest days, the 53-year-old half-Venezuelan American actor/comedian and Late Night With Seth Meyers bandleader  will star in a Cadillac-branded segment during Thursday night’s show.

Meyers will toss to the segment featuring Armisen in the role of an agent in Cadillac’s “digital showroom,” touting the features of the 2021 Escalade. A blended “bumper” between the ad segment and the show will combine NBC and Cadillac branding.

Like all businesses, automakers have had to make dramatic adjustments to their retail presence during the coronavirus pandemic. Cadillac’s “live” showroom setup enables customers in all 50 states to have one-on-one video conversations with company reps via desktop or mobile devices.

TV networks have similarly grappled with major shifts in the advertising marketplace in 2020, with live sports and programming being wiped out by COVID-19. The upfront, typically wrapped up in late spring or early summer, has transformed into an open-ended process.

As a company, NBCUniversal is also trying to add options for advertisers, in particular with recently launched streaming service Peacock. Subscribers to its premium tier can get earlier access to Late Night as well as the Tonight Show.

Late Night has had an outsized presence during the run-up to the election, with a prime-time special airing recently on NBC. Meyers and Armisen were castmates on the network’s Saturday Night Live.