Jimmy Kimmel honored his late friend and Jimmy Kimmel Live bandleader Cleto Escobedo III on Tuesday night’s (November 11) episode.

The late night talk show host shared an emotional tribute to his friend of nearly 50 years, who sadly passed away this week.

“We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years and I’ve had to do some hard monologues along the way,” he said at the top of the show. “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.”

Throughout the 20 minute tribute, Jimmy praised his late friend and shared memories from the over the years. He also thanked the doctors and nurses at UCLA Medical Center “for taking incredibly good care of him.”

Jimmy ended the tribute by noting that he’s

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