Cleto Escobedo III, leader of Jimmy Kimmel's house band, dies at 59

Neda Ulaby

November 12, 2025 / 7:55 am

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

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