Jimmy Kimmel is in mourning after the death of his lifelong best friend Cleto Escobedo, who was also the leader of the house band on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Escobedo died on Tuesday, November 11. He was 59 years-old.
Kimmel Mourns Escobedo
Sources claimed to Page Six that Escobedo died after complications from a liver transplant.
Kimmel, who turns 58 tomorrow, announced Escobedo’s death on Instagram hours after his passing.
“Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,” Kimmel wrote. “To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement.”
“Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old,” he continued. “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.”
This came after last Thursday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! was postponed at the last minute. The only explanation that was given was that Kimmel was dealing with a “personal matter.” Instead of airing a live episode, ABC aired a rerun of a show that aired on October 28.
Escobedo was leader of Cleto and the Cletones. This band has provided music for Jimmy Kimmel Live! ever since it premiered back in 2003. Escobedo’s father Cleto Escobado Sr. is also a member of the band. Indeed, he plays tenor and alto saxophones on Kimmel’s show.
Kimmel’s History With Escobedo
On Escobedo’s 50th birthday back in 2016, Kimmel dedicated a segment to his dear friend. In it, he opened up about how they first met as he shared memories from their childhood.
“Cleto had a bicycle with a sidecar attached to it. We called it the side hack,” Kimmel recalled. “I would get in the sidecar and then Cleto would drive me directly into garbage cans and bushes.”
Kimmel went on to remember Escobedo “on the lawn with his BB gun just shooting at me. He also recounted how they would steal his dad’s shotgun and “shoot kites out of the sky.”
The late night host then revealed a prank that Escobedo would play in the back of Kimmel’s mother’s car.
“Cleto would quietly, in the back, slip out of his pants and moon people from the back of our car,” he stated.
Escobedo himself once told the San Fernando Sun that he and Kimmel bonded because they “were like-minded on what we thought was funny.”
Escobedo Was A ‘Child Prodigy’
Kimmel previously told ABC7 that Escobedo was a “child prodigy.”
“The whole school would gather to watch,” Kimmel said in 2015. “He’d get standing ovations. It was a crazy thing.”
Kimmel added that Escobedo “toured with Earth, Wind and Fire, Paula Abdul” and “had his own record deal” before joining his late night show. For Kimmel, having Escobedo as his bandleader was a necessity: “I’ll tell you one thing. It had to have my bandleader, Cleto.”
“I was nervous, because I thought they’d say, ‘We don’t want your friend to be the bandleader,'” Kimmel recalled. “So I took the president of ABC to see him play with his band, and he loved it.”
“Of course I wanted great musicians, but I wanted somebody I had chemistry with,” Kimmel concluded. “And there’s nobody in my life I have better chemistry with than him.”
Please join us in saying a prayer for Escobedo’s family and friends during this tragic time.
Rest in peace, Cleto Escobedo.