Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves Monday, Nov. 17, after taking several days off following the death of his longtime friend and Jimmy Kimmel Live bandleader, Cleto Escobedo III.
Escobedo died suddenly on Nov. 11, with a cause of death later revealed to be cardiogenic shock following complications related to a liver transplant. Kimmel went ahead with his show that day, delivering an emotional tribute to Escobedo during his monologue, before taking the rest of the week off to grieve.
On last night’s show, Kimmel didn’t directly address Escobedo’s death. But there was one notable change, with announcer Lou Wilson tweaking the house band’s name from Cleto and the Cletones to just the Cletones.
As Kimmel recalled in his monologue last week, he met Escobedo not long after his family moved from Brooklyn to Las Vegas. “We became friends. And not just regular friends,” Kimmel said. “We became like 24/7, ‘Mom please let me sleep over please,’ kind of friends.”
Escobedo was a gifted saxophone player and spent time touring with Paula Abdul, Marc Anthony, and Cecilia Noël. When Kimmel was offered the chance to do his own late-night show, he immediately knew he wanted Escobedo to be his bandleader. “We grew up watching Dave and Paul, and the idea that anyone other than him would lead the band was terrifying,” Kimmel said, referring to David Letterman and his longtime bandleader Paul Shaffer. “It had to be him.”
Kimmel went on to call Escobedo the “nicest, most humble, kind, and always funny person,” adding: “He loved me. He loved seeing all of this happen. He loved being a part of it. He never took it for granted… He was just a great older brother. No baggage, all love. There’s no one in my life I felt more comfortable with.”
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Escobedo’s bandmate, the keyboardist and musical arranger Jeff Babko, said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen television like Jimmy’s monologue the other night. It was something else. We were all feeling a lot, and I think it really showed what kind of family Jimmy created over there. If it’s not legit blood family, it’s one step removed. It’s pretty deep. And with Cleto gone, it’s all hitting hard. These events — the good ones and the bad ones — show our little show-family at its closest.”
Over the weekend, Kimmel launched two fundraisers in Escobedo’s memory. One was for UCLA Medical Center, where Escobedo was being treated, and the other was for the Animal Foundation in Las Vegas, in honor of Escobedo’s love of animals and rescue dogs.
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