Kimmel Cries Through Heartfelt Bob Saget Tribute

'He would write sometimes just to tell me he loved me'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 11, 2022 7:19 AM CST

Jimmy Kimmel paid tribute to his friend Bob Saget on Monday night, though it was a struggle. As the Week reports, "he did not make it 20 seconds before choking back tears." The late night host, speaking before the audience had been allowed into the theater, summed up the comedian in a word: "sweetest." "He would write sometimes just to tell me he loved me. And I know he did that for many people," he said. "He had something funny to say about everything and nothing bad to say about anyone. Never. If there were people he didn’t like, he kept it to himself. Unlike me, he was a good person."

Kimmel tearfully recalled emails the pair exchanged about "life and the well-being of our children and how hard it is to appreciate one of those without the other being just right," per the Daily Beast. Kimmel also revealed that when his son was in the hospital, Saget "checked in a lot." He encouraged fans to donate to the Scleroderma Research Foundation, which Saget supported before and after his sister, Gay, was diagnosed with the rare condition, which ultimately killed her at the age of 47 in 1994. Saget also outlived his sister, Andrea, who died of a brain aneurism in her 30s in the 1980s. That might be why "he had no problem telling you that he loved you and what you meant to him," Kimmel said.

Toward the end of his tribute, Kimmel broke down recalling how he, Saget, and his "brother" and Full House co-star John Stamos gathered to eulogize comedian Don Rickles on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2017. "We never imagined that four and a half years later, we'd be talking about—" but he couldn't finish his thought. "I'm sorry I taped this like 14 times," he said, tears running down his face. Guest Steve Harvey went on to say that Saget had "just emailed me two days ago," asking him to appear on his podcast. "He was just talking about all the good times we had," Harvey said. "He was a great dude." (More Bob Saget stories.)

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