Jimmy Kimmel hosts "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

Jimmy Kimmel is taking some time away from his late-night show to grieve.

The comedian broke down in tears on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" announcing the death of Cleto Escobedo III, his longtime bandleader and childhood best friend. At the end of the emotional monologue Tuesday, Kimmel shared that he would be taking a break from the show.

"Thank you for indulging me," he said during the Nov. 11 show. "We're going to take the next couple of nights off, but I wanted to be here tonight to tell you about my friend."

Kimmel also noted that Escobedo "loved Eddie Murphy," who was his guest on the show that evening. "I don't think he would have wanted us to miss this," he said. While sitting down with Murphy, Kimmel told the "Beverly Hills Cop" star it's "really good to have you here, especially tonight."

The "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" host initially shared news of Escobedo's death in a Nov. 11 Instagram post. He wrote that the two of them were "inseparable since I was nine years old," and the "fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true."

Kimmel then delivered a more than 20-minute monologue on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" emotionally paying tribute to his longtime friend. He described this as the hardest monologue he has ever had to deliver.

In the eulogy, Kimmel described meeting Escobedo as a kid when they were neighbors in Las Vegas. Escobedo, who played the saxophone, formed the band Cleto and the Cletones. When Kimmel got his own late-night show on ABC in 2003, he hired Escobedo to be his bandleader.

Escobedo's father, Cleto Escobedo Jr., also plays saxophone for the band, and Kimmel noted that Escobedo's mother comes to the show every day. "She does not work here. She does not have a job here," he joked. "She comes and stays all day to be near her husband and son."

"Everyone loves Cleto," Kimmel said. "Everyone here at this show, we are devastated by this. It's just not fair. He was the nicest, most humble, kind and always funny person."

Kimmel went on to say that while "I'm heartbroken to lose him, I'm going to take yet another lesson from him and acknowledge how lucky I was to have him literally at my side for so many years."

"Cherish your friends," he added. "We're not here forever."

"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" previously postponed its Nov. 6 show due to a personal matter.

Watch Jimmy Kimmel's full tribute to Cleto Escobedo III

Contributing: KiMi Robinson and Wendy Naugle, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jimmy Kimmel to take break from his show after bandleader Cleto Escobedo III's death

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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