Jimmy Kimmel's Bandleader Cleto Escobedo Died Following a Liver Transplant and Health Issues

On Nov. 11, 2025, Jimmy Kimmel announced on Facebook that his longtime friend and bandleader on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Cleto Escobedo, died. According to Page Six, Cleto died following complications due to a liver transplant, but why did he need a transplant in the first place? Although Cleto was part of Jimmy's show for years, and he was friends with Jimmy for even longer, he was not in the public eye as much as the host and comedian is.

When Jimmy posted about Cleto's death, he wrote that he and Cleto had been "inseparable" for years, since Jimmy was just 9 years old. He also said that working together was a "dream" that neither of them had envisioned happening. Page Six reported that Cleto had been hospitalized the week before his death.

Although there are reports about Cleto's death stemming from his liver transplant and hospitalization, there has not been an official announcement about why he needed the transplant. Jimmy did not release a statement about Cleto's health or condition prior to his death, and Cleto didn't reveal anything publicly either.

Deadline reported that Jimmy canceled his show for the rest of the week following Cleto's death, and he had unexpectedly canceled an episode when Cleto was hospitalized the week before. Although there is no confirmation of why Cleto had to get a liver transplant, there are several potential complications from an organ transplant like that.

Per the National Institutes of Health (NIH), common causes of death after liver transplants include infections, cardiovascular disease, and surgical complications from the procedure itself. The NIH also reported that live transplants typically occur in individuals who are in late-stage liver disease. This may have been the case for Cleto, but again, no one connected to him has confirmed that.

Longtime viewers of Jimmy Kimmel Live! probably watched Cleto in the show's band over the years. Viewers also got to know Jimmy's sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez. However, unlike Jimmy's relationship with Guillermo, which started as professional and turned into friendship, his real-life friendship with Cleto began decades before he found success as a comedian and late-night television host.

In 2013, Cleto spoke with ABC7 about the closeness of their relationship and what it was like growing up with Jimmy.

"Jimmy was at the house every day, slept over our house," he told the outlet. "I would wake up early in the morning, and I would hear [a noise], and I said, 'That's Jimmy.' Because Jimmy had a little allergy problem."

Jimmy even spoke to the audience on the show about Cleto over the years. In 2016, for Cleto's 50th birthday, Jimmy told the Jimmy Kimmel Live! audience that their friendship was "highlighted by the kind of torture that only an older brother can inflict on you without being arrested."