Jimmy Kimmel’s tribute to Cleto Escobedo III, his dear friend and bandleader

By Lisa France, CNN

(CNN) — Jimmy Kimmel shared his broken heart for 22 minutes with his audience Tuesday night.

The late night host used his “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” monologue to speak about his childhood friend who was also his bandleader. Cleto Escobedo III died at the age of 59 on Tuesday.

“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 to go,” Kimmel said at the open of his show. “And I’d like to tell you about him if you wouldn’t mind.”

He met Escobedo when they were children, after Kimmel’s family moved from Brooklyn to Las Vegas. Escobedo, who he called Junior, lived on his block.

And “not just regular friends” Kimmel explained.

“We became like 24-7, ‘Mom, please let me sleep over please’ kind of friends,” he said. “One summer I slept over at the Escobedo house 33 nights in a row.”

The pair had all types of fun from shooting pool to boxing for hours in the backyard. They also shared a love of late night host David Letterman.

Kimmel also hailed Escobedo for being a fabulous saxophone player and shared a clip of his friend performing with Paula Abdul.

Escobedo’s career included touring with big names, including Luis Miguel, Marc Anthony, and Philip Bailey from Earth, Wind and Fire. That all led to working with Kimmel after he landed his late night talk show in 2002.

“Of course I wanted Cleto to lead my band,” Kimmel said. “We grew up watching Dave and Paul” — David Letterman and his bandleader Paul Shaffer — “and the idea that anyone other than leading the band was terrifying.”

Escobedo brought his father into the band, which they named Cleto and the Cletones. The elder Escobedo was on hand at Tuesday’s show and the bandleader’s mom, Sylvia, was in the audience, as Kimmel said she often would be, saying a rosary.

Kimmel helped break the news of his friend’s death, posting on social media “Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III.”

“To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old,” Kimmel wrote. “The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true. Cherish your friends and please keep Cleto’s wife, children and parents in your prayers.”

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