United Kingdom, Nov. 12 -- Jimmy Kimmel broke down in tears during a tribute to his house band leader and lifelong friend Cleto Escobedo III, who died on Tuesday (11.11.25) aged 59.

The 57-year-old comedian paid tribute to Cleto, the leader of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! house band Cleto and the Cletones, during his opening monologue on Tuesday night's show, and admitted his pal's passing is "just not fair".

He opened the show by saying: "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 because late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special who was much too young."

Jimmy then recalled his lifelong friendship with Cleto when they grew up in the same...