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Sitting at the center of the table, Jimmy tried to smile through the opening questions.
But everything changed when Joy Behar gently asked about Cleto Escobedo III-Jimmy’s lifelong friend, musical collaborator, and the heartbeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
It was a name Jimmy hadn’t said publicly since Cleto’s sudden passing.
“He was more than a bandmate-he was family,” Jimmy whispered, his voice immediately cracking.
Within seconds, he wiped at his eyes, but the tears kept coming.
Whoopi Goldberg, seated beside him, instinctively reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.
The set, usually filled with laughter and overlapping conversations, became still.
A Friendship That Went Beyond Television
Cleto Escobedo III wasn’t just another musician on a late-night show. To Jimmy, he was the brother he chose.
The two grew up together in Las Vegas, bonded over music, humor, and a shared dream that would eventually carry them all the way to national television.
When Jimmy Kimmel Live! premiered in 2003, Jimmy didn’t hesitate-Cleto was the only person he wanted leading the show’s band.
“For twenty years, he walked onto that stage with me,” Jimmy said, blinking hard as he tried to steady his voice.
“Every joke, every bit, every song… Cleto was there. He was the life of every show.”
The audience watched, unbreathing. Even Joy Behar, known for her quick quips, had glossy eyes.
She attempted to lighten the moment with a soft joke about Cleto always wearing sunglasses indoors, but her voice failed her.
She sniffled, shook her head, and let the silence return.
The Moment That Broke Jimmy
As Jimmy continued to talk, the grief he had been quietly carrying finally spilled over.
He shared memories of Cleto’s humor, his kindness, the way he could make the entire crew laugh just by raising an eyebrow.
But then Jimmy touched on something deeper-something that clearly haunted him.
“I still look for him,” he admitted. “I walk onstage… and I expect to see him there.
I don’t know what it’s going to be like to keep doing the show without him.”
The confession wasn’t rehearsed. It wasn’t polished.
It was raw, unrehearsed pain, spoken by a man facing a future that no longer included someone who had shaped so much of his life.
Whoopi squeezed his shoulder. Sunny Hostin wiped away tears.
Even the camera operators seemed to move more slowly, as if afraid to disturb the moment.
A Studio Wrapped in Silenсе
What happened next stunned both the studio audience and millions watching at home.
Jimmy paused, dropped his gaze, and breathed shakily.
Then he looked directly into the camera-as though speaking not to viewers, but to Cleto himself.
“There’s so much I wish I could say to him,” Jimmy whispered. “And if you’re watching this… hug your people.
Call them. Tell them you love them. Don’t wait.”
No music played. No transition queued. The control room held the silence instead of cutting to commercial.
And The View-a show famous for its rapid-fire conversations-went completely silent for a full minute.
Hosts didn’t speak. Audience members didn’t move.
Even the viewers at home felt the weight of that pause, a moment of collective grief shared across the country.
A Heartfelt Goodbye That Reached Millions
When the silence finally ended, Jimmy stood up, wiped his eyes, and thanked the hosts for giving him the space to speak about his friend.
Joy embraced him. Whoopi held onto his hand until he walked offstage.
That clip spread across social media within minutes.
People wrote about their own losses, their own regrets, the calls they didn’t answer, the people they missed.
Jimmy hadn’t planned on delivering a message that morning-but he did. A message America clearly needed to hear.
“He was the best friend I ever had,” Jimmy said in his final line.
“And I hope the world remembers him the way I do.”
The world did. And in that silent minute, the world mourned with him.