Cleto Escobedo III, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” bandleader, died Tuesday morning, the late-night host announced.
In posts on social media, Jimmy Kimmel described Escobedo as a “great friend, father, son, musician and man.” He urged his followers to keep Escobedo’s family in their thoughts.
“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.”
The news comes after Kimmel postponed a show taping last week for a “personal matter.”
Escobedo, a Las Vegas native, has led Cleto and the Cletones for Kimmel’s late-night show for more than 20 years. Kimmel moved in across the street from Escobedo in 1977 when the comedian’s parents left New York for Sin City.
Kimmel dedicated a segment to Escobedo in 2016 for his friend’s 50th birthday, joking that the two had the type of friendship built on “the kind of torture that you can only inflict — an older brother can inflict on you without being arrested.”
He teased his friend about times when Kimmel rode in the sidecar of Escobedo’s bicycle just for Escobedo to steer him into trash cans. Kimmel told one story about a time when he built a go-kart out of wood as a child, only to be sabotaged by his buddy.
“Cleto snuck into my garage and glued the steering column left or right,” Kimmel said. “I went right into traffic.”
At the end of the segment, Kimmel shared photos of the two men from their time growing up together. One of the photos was of them playing music together, with Kimmel on the clarinet and Escobedo on the saxophone.
Kimmel told WABC the year before that he knew he had to have Escobedo for his house band in 2003 when “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” first aired. Escobedo was a “child prodigy” who ended up being a professional touring musician, Kimmel said.
So Kimmel took the president of ABC to see Escobedo’s band perform and “he loved it.”
“Of course I wanted great musicians, but I wanted somebody I had chemistry with,” Kimmel said. “And there’s nobody in my life I have better chemistry with than him.”
