Jimmy Kimmel paid homage to his late best good friend and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” band chief, Cleto Escobedo III, during the “hardest” opening monologue the late-night host said he ever had to ship.
Kimmel broke down in tears on Tuesday night time’s show as he shared intimate particulars about his “great friend, father, son, musician and man” Escobedo, who died earlier that morning at age 59.
“We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years and I’ve had to do some hard monologues along the way, but this one’s the hardest because late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special who was much too young,” the 57-year-old late-night host informed his viewers.
Jimmy Kimmel broke down in tears while speaking about his best good friend and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” band chief, Cleto Escobedo III, following his death on Tuesday morning. Jimmy Kimmel Live
“In 1997, my family moved to Las Vegas. My parents sold our house in Brooklyn, and we moved 3,000 miles across the country.”
Kimmel said he met Escobedo when he and his household left Brooklyn and moved 3,000 miles west to Las Vegas. Escobedo lived just a few homes down from where Kimmel moved to in Spring Valley.
“He was a year older than me. His name was Cleto, but we called him Junior,” he said, including that they first met while he was using his bike around the neighborhood.
The two immediately turned best associates from there on and would repeatedly have sleepovers at each other’s houses, Kimmel said, noting that at one level he slept over Escobedo’s home “33 nights in a row.”
Kimmel said one factor he’ll never overlook about Escobedo was that he “was a phenomenal sax player from a very young age.”
A younger Cleto Escobedo III and Jimmy Kimmel during their childhood. Jimmy Kimmel Live
Cleto Escobedo III of “Cleto and the Cletones” performs at Kevin And Bean’s 2011 April Foolishness at Gibson Amphitheatre on April 2, 2011, in Universal City, California. WireImage
“He was a child prodigy who would get standing ovations in junior high school if you could believe that,” he said.
Escobedo gained his love for music from his sax-playing father Cleto Escobedo II — who is also a half of the show’s in-house band, “Cleto and the Cletones” — but gave up his profession as a musician to focus on his household when he was youthful.
“So when Cleto Jr. became a professional musician, Cleto Senior was thrilled. He got to live vicariously through his son, who started playing in bars, and clubs, and lounges around Las Vegas,” Kimmel said.
Escobedo was finally employed to play sax for pop star Paula Abdul and was later signed to a report deal, under which he launched his first album.
Kimmel said that he and Escobedo were such great associates growing up that at one level, he slept over Escobedo’s home “33 nights in a row.” Jimmy Kimmel Live
Kimmel said the album didn’t succeed because Escobedo, a “serious musician” with a ardour for jazz and R&B, wasn’t cut out for pop stardom and soon returned to touring with Marc Anthony, Philip Bailey, and other artists.
In 2002, Kimmel landed his discuss show and was informed he needed a band.
He said he knew he wished his childhood best pal to be its chief and also wished Escobedo’s father to be half of the group, despite him not having performed professionally for practically three a long time.
Escobedo had been the band chief for Kimmel’s show for the last 23 years. Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
“When you do a show like this, you need a few things,” Kimmel said. “You need a desk, an announcer, a Guillermo, and you need a band. Of course, I wanted Cleto to lead my band. We grew up watching Dave (Letterman) and Paul (Shaffer) and the idea that anyone other than him would lead the band was terrifying. It had to be him.”
After the proficient father-and-son duo and their proficient band nailed an audition that Kimmel set up with ABC bigwigs at a restaurant gig, government Lloyd Braun “loved it,” and “Cleto and the Cletones” was born — with the late-night host noting that since then, they have all been “working together every day for almost 23 years.”
“I’ve often said that the single best thing about doing this show was getting the opportunity to allow Cleto Senior to pick up where he left off in 1966 and become a musician again with his son,” Kimmel said, combating back tears as the crowd gave Escobedo’s father a standing ovation.
Escobedo inherited his love of music from his sax-playing father, Cleto Escobedo II — now half of “Jimmy Kimmel Live’s” band, “Cleto and the Cletones” — who once gave up performing to focus on household. Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Kimmel also launched Escobedo’s mom, who was in the crowd for Tuesday night time’s show.
“[Cleto] Senior and Sylvia, Cleto’s mom, have been like second parents to me,” he said, struggling to keep his composure.
The late-night host then emotionally vented about the ache he felt from shedding his closest good friend.
“Everyone loves Cleto. Everyone here at the show. We are devastated by this. It’s not… It’s just not fair,” a choked-up Kimmel said. “Even though I’m heartbroken to lose him, I’m going to take yet another lesson from him and acknowledge how lucky I was to have him literally at my side for so many years.”
Kimmel announced Escobedo’s death on Tuesday morning in an Instagram post.
A cause of death was not announced, but Page Six reports that he had issues stemming from a liver transplant.
