As a kid growing up in Las Vegas, Cleto Escobedo and his best friend delighted in playing pranks together.

"We kind of had the same sense of humor," he recalled in a 2022 oral history interview with Texas Tech University . "We'd mess with people on the Strip, and if it'd rain, maybe we'd go splash people with puddles in my car when I was a teenager."

And they watched a lot of comedy. "We were big David Letterman fans when we were kids," he said.

Just like their idol, his friend, Jimmy Kimmel, grew up to host a late-night TV show. And Kimmel delivered a heartfelt monologue Tuesday night paying tribute to Escobedo.

"Late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special, who was much too young to go," Kimmel said, near tears. He did not disclose the cause of Escobedo's dea

See Full Page