Damn. That is tough, I can't imagine losing my best friend or even any of my friends going back to the 70s (but fuck we're getting old so):
Born Aug. 23, 1966 in Las Vegas, NV, Escobedo's group, Cleto and the Cletones, has been the house band for Jimmy Kimmel Live! since the show's inception in 2003.
Escobedo and Kimmel, however, go way back. The pair hit it off as kids, when Kimmel's family moved to Sin City back in 1977, directly across the street, two houses over from a young Escobedo.
Kimmel was unable to hold back the tears, and he told of his best friend's passing at the very top of Tuesday night's Live. "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's the hardest," he remarked. They weren't just friends. They were 24/7 besties, enjoying countless sleepovers, crank calls, backyard ballgames, and "we definitely gave each other many concussions," he recounted.
Across 22 minutes, Kimmel told hilarious tales of youthful pranks, parties, bad advice, and much more, the stuff that occurs only when two people live out of each other's pockets.
"We loved all the same things. Baseball, fishing, boxing, [Muhammad] Ali, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Woody Allen, Michael McDonald, Huey Lewis, Stevie Wonder, and most of all, we loved David Letterman," he admitted. "We never missed David Letterman. And the first time I was on the [Late Show with David Letterman] was 1999. It was a really big deal for both of us. That afternoon before the show, I was so nervous. I was walking in New York City, just walking fast, trying to burn off the nervous energy, and I called him just so we could be amazed together that this was happening and it was an amazing thing."