Jimmy Kimmel broke down in tears on Tuesday as he paid tribute to his childhood best friend Cleto Escobedo III after his death.
“We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years, and we’ve had to do some difficult monologues along the way, but this one was the hardest. Because late last night and early this morning, we lost a very special person who was too young to pass away,” the emotional comedian told the audience on Tuesday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
Kimmel then shared how he and Escobedo have been inseparable ever since they met as neighbors in Spring Valley, Nevada, in 1977.
“There was a boy who lived on my block… across the street, two doors down. His name was Cleto, but we all called him Junior,” the talk show host said.
“We had a lot of adventures. We laughed a lot. We had our own language, which was almost incomprehensible to other people,” Kimmel, 57, recalled of his childhood.
“We didn’t have to say anything. We sat here every day in rehearsal. 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.”
Kimmel also gushed about his late friend’s musical talent, saying Escobedo was “a prodigy who got standing ovations in middle school.”
When the awards show host launched his eponymous talk show in January 2003, he called on Escobedo to lead the band.
“Everyone loves Cleto…everyone who comes to the show,” he said through sobs. “We are devastated by this. It’s not… it’s not fair.”
During Kimmel’s heartbreaking 20-minute eulogy, Cleto’s mother, Sylvia Escobedo, was also in the audience, and the late musician’s father, Cleto Escobedo II, was on stage performing with the band.
“I would like to thank Cleo and Sylvia, Cleo’s parents, for creating him, sharing him with me and all of us, and always treating me like his own son,” Kimmel said.
As Page Six reported, Kulet passed away on Tuesday due to complications from a liver transplant. He was 59 years old.
After hearing that the band’s leader was hospitalized last week, Kimmel canceled the November 6 taping at the last minute to be by his friend’s side.
Cleto was the leader of his band, Cleto and the Cretones, for almost 23 years. His father played tenor and alto saxophones with his son.
Kimmel’s heartbreaking death caused him to cancel his late-night talk show on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
