Jimmy Kimmel Returns After Bandleader's Death

Jimmy Kimmel returned to the air Monday night with his late-night talk show after a weeklong hiatus following the sudden death of his lifelong friend and bandleader, Cleto Escobedo III, on November 11 in Los Angeles.

Escobedo, 59, succumbed to cardiogenic shock, a condition where the heart fails to pump sufficient blood to the body, according to his death certificate. Underlying factors included vasodilatory shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation and alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, while additional contributors were sepsis, graft-versus-host disease, immunosuppression, chronic kidney disease and pneumonia. The death stemmed from complications after a liver transplant, for which Escobedo had been receiving treatment at UCLA Medical Center. He had been absent from the show for several months due to illness.

Kimmel, 58, first shared the news in an Instagram post that morning, writing, "Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III. To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old. The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream...