Jimmy Kimmel’s lifelong friend and the band leader of Jimmy Kimmel Live! , Cleto Escobedo III, passed away on Tuesday, November 11, at just 59 years old. Condolences poured in for Kimmel throughout the week, and Escobedo’s cause of death has now been revealed.

Kimmel came out on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on November 11 in tears, starting with a special tribute to Escobedo, which he called the “hardest” he’s had to give in his career.

In his monologue, Kimmel remembered Escobedo and their childhood —when they became “not just regular friends,” but “the 24/7, ‘Mom please let me sleep over, please ,’” kind of friends. He recalled one summer that he slept over at the Escobedo house 33 nights in a row.

He also reminisced about their afternoons of whiffle ball on the front lawn and Nerf football in

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