Jimmy Kimmel, Cleto Escobedo shared Las Vegas friendship

It was a moment so powerful you had to hit pause, on the video and in life.

Jimmy Kimmel remembered his best friend and talk show bandleader Cleto Escobedo III on Tuesday night. Escobedo died that morning after a lengthy illness. He was 59.

Escobedo was a master sax player and the architect of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” band Cleto and the Cletones, which featured his father, Cleto Escobedo Jr., also on sax.

When Kimmel took the stage to a standing ovation, it was clear this would be no ordinary monologue. It was a 22-minute eulogy for the man who was Kimmel’s best friend since he was 9 years old and Escobedo was 10. That’s when Kimmel and his family moved from Brooklyn to a tract home in the Spring Valley subdivision.

“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 is the hardest,” Kimmel, his voice already wavering, said at the top. “Late last night, early this morning, we lost someone much too young to go, and I’d like to tell you about him, if you don’t mind.”

Hello, neighbor

Kimmel recalled moving across the country from Brooklyn to Las Vegas and growing up on Meadowlark Lane.

“There was a boy who lived on my block … he lived across the street and two houses over. He was a year older than me, his name was Cleto, but we called him “Junior,” even though his father was Cleto II and he was the third. Cleto, as he would say, was ‘Cleto Valentine Escobedo III.’”

The two soon met and became best friends. “Not just regular friends, we became like 24/7 friends, ‘Mom, let me sleep over, please let me sleep over’ type friends,” Kimmel said, sharing that over one summer he slept over at the Escobedo house 33 times.

“My mother used to make me get down on my knees and beg to sleep at his house, in front of him,” Kimmel said. “And I would gladly do it.”

The two got into mischief at all hours.

“We were never bored, we were always up to something, Wiffle ball on the front lawn, Nerf football in the street, we’d dress as cowboys, we set fire to Hot Wheels,” Kimmel said. “Cleto had a warped secondhand pool table in his garage, we’d shoot pool, we would box in his backyard, we boxed in his bedroom — we definitely gave each other many concussions.”

A ‘Crank’ inspiration

The two made crank calls through the night, recording as they ordered pizzas to be delivered at their neighbors’ houses. Kimmel later developed the sketch show “Crank Yankers,” along with Adam Carolla and Daniel Kellison, from these experiences (puppets from the series are displayed at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club on the Strip).

Escobedo was a ladies man even as a youngster, blow-drying his hair to look like John Travolta’s Tony Manero in “Saturday Night Fever.” He wore a tie to school just to look cool.

“Cleto was very focused on sex, from a young age,” Kimmel said. “He knew everything about sex, and he taught me all of it. Half of everything he taught me was wrong, sometimes dangerously wrong.”

A life of music

Escobedo’s family was inherently musical. His father was a member of the great Texas band Los Blues. But the elder Escobedo quit the band in 1966 when Cleto was born, focusing on raising his kid and working as a busboy at Caesars Palace. Sammy Davis Jr. recognized the elder Escobedo and hired him as his personal room service butler. Kimmel has said the first concert he ever saw was Sammy at Caesars’ Circus Maximus.

The younger Escobedo had inherited his father’s passion and acumen on the sax. He became a popular lounge and bar performer around Las Vegas. Paula Abdul discovered him, snapping him up to sing and play sax on tour. Kimmel played a clip of Escobedo onstage with Abdul, his wavy, long hair the butt of jokes as the two grew older. Escobedo also played with Marc Anthony, Luis Miguel and Philip Bailey.

“When I was a local DJ at a junky little radio station in Palm Springs, Cleto was onstage playing to 20,000 people,” Kimmel said. “Then, a few years went by and our roles reversed. It was my show, with my name on everything. All of a sudden, I was the star. And a lot of people who have a huge amount of talent would have a problem with that. Cleto never did.”

The younger Escobedo was a must to lead the Kimmel band. The elder Escobedo was pulled from a 30-year retirement from the stage to join the show, continuing the familial feeling of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Escobedo was godfather to Kimmel’s son, Kevin. Kimmel and Escobedo served as best man at each other’s weddings.

A Vegas original

Escobedo was popular among his Vegas contemporaries throughout his career. The wonderful guitarist Mundo Juillerat posted photos of himself with Escobedo, and Juillerat’s son, Mundo Jr. “This one hurts … I’m thankful for all the music and heavy hangs we had back in the day. And in recent years, I’m grateful for the few life hangs we shared,” he wrote.

Kimmel’s close friend and Las Vegas PR vet Jim Gentleman said, “Life won’t be the same without him. He was a shining star in so many ways and for so many lives. He loved and missed Las Vegas. It’s where his career started and where he honed his many talents.”

The Escobedos were tight with Jerry Lopez of Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns; Lopez was in the house band with Cleto and the Cletones when Kimmel’s show originated from Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood in April 2019.

Emotionally spent at the end of his tribute, Kimmel said he would be taking the next couple of nights off but welcomed Eddie Murphy, an Escobedo favorite, to the show. The host thanked Escobedo’s father, gripping his sax onstage, and his mother, Sylvia, in the audience. Escobedo was an only child but had a brother in Kimmel.

“Thank you for making him and sharing him with me and all of us,” Kimmel said, tearfully, to the camera. “Cherish your friends. We’re not here forever.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.