Jimmy Kimmel burst into tears while remembering late best friend Cleto Escobedo III

Jimmy Kimmel opened the latest episode of his late-night show with a heavy heart as he lost his childhood pal and band leader, Cleto Escobedo III.

On Tuesday, the 57-year-old host woke up to the saddening news of his best friend’s death, who passed away suddenly at the age of 51.

Jimmy opened the latest episode of his show with a monologue dedicated to Escobedo. While talking about him, he literally broke down into tears.

The American TV host began by saying, “We’ve been on the air for almost 23 years, and I’ve had to do some hard monologues along the way.”

Kimmel admitted that this monologue is the hardest of all as he lost a very dear person, who was very young to go away from this world.

“But this one’s the hardest because late last night, early this morning, we lost someone very special who was much too young to go, and I’d like to tell you about him. If you don’t mind.”

While recalling his long-term friendship with Cleto, Jimmy revealed, “There was a boy who lived on my block. He lived across the street and two houses over. He was a little over a year older than me. His name was Cleto, but we all called him junior.”

“Eventually, we met and became friends. And not just regular friends. We became 24/7, ‘Mom, please let me sleep over, please,’ kind of friends."

Kimmel concluded saying, “Everyone here at the show we are devastated by this. It’s just not fair. He was the nicest, most humble, kind and always funny person.”