With tears in his eyes, Jimmy Kimmel paid an emotional tribute to his lifelong friend, Cleto Escobedo III, who passed away on Tuesday.

“We’ve been broadcasting for nearly 23 years, and I’ve delivered some difficult monologues during that time. However, this one is undoubtedly the toughest because, late last night into early this morning, we lost someone incredibly dear to us who was far too young,” Kimmel expressed to his viewers on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Tuesday night, his voice heavy with emotion.

Kimmel reminisced about how his bond with Escobedo formed when they first crossed paths as young neighbors in Spring Valley, Nevada, back in 1977.

“There was a boy who lived just down the street from me… across the street and a couple of houses over. His name was Cleto, but to us, he was Jr.,” the talk show host recounted.

“We shared countless adventures and laughed until our sides hurt. We even had our own secret language that hardly anyone else could understand,” Kimmel, now 57, fondly remembered about their youthful escapades.

“We didn’t have to say anything. We’d sit here at rehearsal every day. We didn’t have to look at each other. I knew he was thinking about looking at me and I was thinking about looking at him.”

Kimmel also gushed over his late pal’s musical skills, saying Escobedo was a “child prodigy who would get standing ovations in junior high school.”

When the award show host started his eponymous talk show in January 2003, he called Escobedo to lead the band.

“Everyone loves Cleto … everyone here at the show,” he said as he sobbed. “We are devastated by this. It’s not … It’s just not fair.”

During Kimmel’s heartbreaking 20-minute tribute, Cleto’s mother, Sylvia Escobedo, was in the audience, as the late musician’s father, Cleto Escobedo II, was on stage playing with the band.

“I want to thank Cleo’s parents, Cleo and Sylvia, for making him and for sharing him with me and with all of us and for treating me like their own son, always,” Kimmel said.

As Page Six reported, Cleto died on Tuesday after complications stemming from a liver transplant. He was 59.

We were told that the band leader was hospitalized last week, and Kimmel canceled his taping Nov. 6 at the last minute to be by his friend’s side.

Cleto was the leader of his band, Cleto and the Cletones, for nearly 23 years. His father played the tenor and alto saxophone alongside his son.

Due to Kimmel’s heartbreaking loss, he has canceled his late-night talk show on Wednesday and Thursday.