Jimmy Kimmel delivered an emotional monologue Tuesday, honoring his late childhood friend and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” bandleader Cleto Escobedo III, who died that day at the age of 59.
“We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years, and I’ve had to do some hard monologues along the way,” Kimmel said through tears at the top of the show. “But this one’s the hardest because late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special who was much too young to go, and I’d like to tell you about him, if you don’t mind.”
(Watch the monologue in full above.)
The host then shared heartfelt stories from his youth, including how he and Escobedo first met as children and why they remained such close friends over the years.
“There was a boy who lived on my block. He lived across the street and two houses over. He was a little over a year older than me. His name was Cleto, but we all called him Junior,” Kimmel recalled. “Eventually, we met and became friends. And not just regular friends. We became 24/7, ‘Mom, please let me sleep over, please,’ kind of friends. One summer, I slept over at the Escobedo house 33 nights in a row. My mother used to make me get down on my knees and beg to sleep at his house in front of him. And I would gladly do it, because we were never bored. We were always up to something.”
Kimmel also recounted how he pitched and ultimately hired Escobedo and his father, Cleto Escobedo Sr., as bandleader and band member (respectively) of his late-night house band.
He admitted that his initial pitch — “‘My best friend from growing up plays the saxophone, he could lead the band'” — didn’t sound very convincing. But it was clear that Escobedo’s talent and friendship were invaluable to the show.
“Everyone here at the show we are devastated by this. It’s just not fair. He was the nicest, most humble, kind and always funny person,” Kimmel said.
With Escobedo’s father sitting with the band and his mother in the audience, Kimmel explained the deep bond he shared with his late friend and why his loss was so painful to everyone involved.
“We had so many adventures. We laughed so hard. We had our own language that almost no one else understood,” he said. “We didn’t have to say anything. We’d sit here at rehearsal every day. We didn’t have to look at each other. I knew he was thinking about looking at me, and I was thinking about looking at him.”
The cause of Escobedo’s death was not immediately announced.
In light of the news, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will be taking the rest of the week off to honor his memory.
https://www.tvline.com/2024467/jimmy-kimmel-tribute-bandleader-cleto-escobedo-dies-monologue/