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Jimmy Kimmel Live Renames House Band ‘The Cletones’ After Cleto Escobedo III’s Death

The new credit first appeared in the Nov. 17 opening titles after Kimmel’s on-air tribute.

Overview

  • A revised title sequence on Nov. 17 identified the ensemble as The Cletones, replacing the longtime credit Cleto and the Cletones.
  • Escobedo died Nov. 11 at age 59 at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, with a death certificate listing cardiogenic shock as the immediate cause.
  • Underlying causes on the certificate include vasodilatory shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation and alcoholic cirrhosis, with sepsis, graft-versus-host disease, immunosuppression, chronic kidney disease and pneumonia cited as contributing factors.
  • Kimmel announced the death and delivered an emotional monologue that night, with Escobedo’s father, Cleto Escobedo Jr., performing during the taping.
  • The show canceled its Nov. 12 and Nov. 13 episodes, and the band’s updated name marks its first on-air change since the program debuted in 2003, when Escobedo’s group joined after forming in 1995.