Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel announced Tuesday that he is taking the rest of the week off following the death of his best friend and the show’s bandleader, Cleto Escobedo III, also known as "Jr."
Kimmel gave an emotional tribute to his lifelong friend before revealing that he would take a short break from "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," where Escobedo's father also plays in the band.
"Cherish your friends, we’re not here forever," Kimmel said in his closing monologue. "Thank you for indulging me, we’re going to take the next couple of nights off. I wanted to be here tonight to tell you about my friend and Cleto loved Eddie Murphy, and he wouldn’t have wanted us to miss this."
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The late-night host opened the show by announcing the passing of Escobedo and opening up about the decades-long friendship he shared with him and his family.
"We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years, and I’ve had to do some hard monologues along the way," Kimmel said. "But this will… This one’s the hardest because late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special who was too young to go."
During his monologue, Kimmel thanked everyone who had supported him and Escobedo’s family during this difficult time, and thanked his late-pal's family for always treating him as if he was their own son.
"And mostly, I want to thank Cleto's parents, Cleto and Sylvia, for making him and for sharing him with me and with all of us. And for treating me like their own son, always," a tearful Kimmel said, as Escobedo’s mother looked on from the audience and his father sat among the band members.
The comedian recalled that the two were big fans of David Letterman growing up, and shared how it was "a really big deal for both of us," when Kimmel first appeared on "The David Letterman Show" in 1999.
Escobedo, like his father, played the saxophone and was described as a child prodigy by Kimmel. The late-night host added that Escobedo's mother would come to the taping of nearly every show just to "be near her husband and son" as they worked.
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"She’s working those rosary beads in the audience every night. She’s probably halfway through a Hail Mary right now. This is a very tight family. This is the kind of family that when they aren’t together, they call each other 15 times a day. It’s a small, tight family," he told the audience.
While Kimmel did not disclose how or where Escobedo passed away, he shared that the 59-year-old bandleader had recently been treated at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
As reported by Deadline, following Kimmel's break, the show will reschedule upcoming guests who were booked for this week, including Danny DeVito, Howard Jones, Debbie Gibson, Jason Bateman, Mr. T and Susanna Hoffs.