When Conan O’Brien makes his TBS debut this fall, he will be without one very familiar face: longtime band leader Max Weinberg. For the first time since announcing his departure with the comedian after 17 years, Weinberg reveals why he really left and RadarOnline.com has his shocking comments.

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“I can make a little news here, which I haven’t talked about to anybody, but on Feb. 8 I came to the end of a 26-year watchful, waiting odyssey that culminated in 12 hours of massively invasive open-heart surgery,” Weinberg told Fancast.com’s Adam Buckman.