WASHINGTON — Jimmy Kimmel returned to his late-night show on Monday after a following the death of his close friend Cleto Escobedo III.

On Monday, Kimmel hosted and Ms. Pat Kimmel, marking his return to the ABC show after several days off. Escobedo, who had led the show's in-house band Cleto and the Cletones, died on Nov. 11.

The band was introduced as the Cletones on Monday's episode.

The "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" host remembered his best friend in an last week.

“We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years and I’ve had to do some hard monologues along the way,” Kimmel said through tears on Nov. 11. “This one’s the hardest because late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special, who was too young to go.”

Kimmel said he and Escobedo, 53, had been “inseparable” since childhoo

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