Cleto Escobedo III, Jimmy Kimmel’s Bandleader, Dies at 59 NYT | Top Stories By: Sopan Deb 12 November 2025 at 06:11 Mr. Kimmel said that he and Mr. Escobedo, who led Cleto and the Cletones on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” had been “inseparable since I was 9 years old.” © Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content, via Getty ImagesCleto Escobedo III on the set of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in 2016. He had led the show’s house band, Cleto and the Cletones, since the show’s inception in 2003.
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