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 death, but thanked doctors and nurses at UCLA Medical Center for taking care of his friend.

"Cleto was a phenomenal saxophone player from a very young age," Kimmel said. "He was a child prodigy. He would get standing ovations in junior high school, if you can imagine that."

Escobedo grew up in a musical household. His father worked for years as a professional musician, and the younger Escobedo first started studying saxophone in sixth grade, because his father already had an instrument at home. He enrolled at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, played in bar bands — "anything from country to Phil Collins," he said in the oral history — and in 1990, successfully auditioned to tour with superstar Paula Abdul.

"Through her, I got a record deal with Virgin Records," he said. "It was kind of a Latin-y, pop, R&B record. It was kind of like the Latin Explosion record a little too early. I did some stuff in Spanglish, but it was more like a pop, funk-y kind of stuff."

Although the album did not lead to a solo career, Escobedo worked steadily, performing with musicians such as Luis Miguel and Marc Anthony. Kimmel hired Escobedo's band, Cleto and the Cletones, to back him up when ABC launched Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2003. The band included Escobedo's father, and the two, Kimmel said, were particularly proud to be what they believed to be the only father-son team performing together on late night television.

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

Kimmel expressed sympathy for Escobedo's surviving family members, including his parents, wife and two children. He signed off with the words: "Cherish your friends."

Copyright 2025, NPR