Jimmy Kimmel honored Bob Saget's legacy with a touching trip down memory lane.
Before allowing audiences into the studio for Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Jan. 10, the late-night host spoke directly into the camera and delivered a moving tribute to his friend. While reflecting on all the messages people sent following the actor's unexpected death over the weekend, Kimmel noted how the word "sweetest" came up time and time again.
"The reason people wrote that is because it's true," he said. "It's the best word. If you had to pick one word to describe him, that was it: sweetest. I have so many wonderfully kind and supportive texts and emails, calls from Bob. He always had a compliment. He would write sometimes just to tell me he loved me, and I know he did that for many people."
Kimmel also took a moment to remember Saget's humor. "He was so funny," he continued, "and I'm not talking about Full House, or America's Funniest Home Videos, or stand-up comedy or movies. I mean, funny for real. Like, when you walked into a party [and] you saw Bob and his wife Kelly [Rizzo] in the corner, you'd go straight to them and stay for as long as you could because he had something funny to say about everything and nothing bad to say about anyone. Never. There were people he didn't like. He kept it to himself. Unlike me, he was a good person."
In addition, Kimmel discussed the work Saget did with organizations like the Scleroderma Research Foundation. Bob's sister Gay died of scleroderma when she was 47. He also lost his sister Andrea to a brain aneurysm.
Saget joined the Scleroderma Research Foundation's board of directors in 2003 and hosted fundraisers for SRF. "He was very committed to finding a cure for this incurable disease that took his sister's life," Kimmel said, "and I know that if you want to remember him, there's nothing he would appreciate more than if you support SRF."
Looking back at his many email exchanges with Saget, Kimmel said that while some of them were funny others were more serious, including the messages in which they wrote about life, the well-being of their children "and how hard it is to appreciate one of those without the other being just right." He then shared one email from Saget that read, "One night soon, let's go out and have some meat and some good damn drinks and talk about how lucky we are that we have them."
Kimmel noted they "did do that many times" and said Saget checked in on him when his son Billy was in the hospital. The host then sent his love to Saget's daughters Aubrey, Jennifer and Lara, whom the Raising Dad alum welcomed with ex-wife Sherri Kramer, and to Rizzo.
"He was very kind to everyone," Kimmel added, "and he had no problem telling you that he loved you and what you meant to him."
Reflecting on Saget's friendship with Full House co-star John Stamos, Kimmel said the two "were beyond friends" and "were brothers." He then remembered how they appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2017 to honor the late Don Rickles.
"We never imagined that four and a half years later, we'd be talking about..." Kimmel said with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I taped this, like, 14 times. I just…anyway, we had a beautiful conversation that night. You could see when John and Bob were talking about how much they loved Don how much they loved each other."
He then played a clip from that episode and concluded by saying, "We love you, Bob."
Saget was found dead inside a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grand Lakes in Florida on Sunday, Jan. 9. He was 65 years old. The Orange County Sheriff's Office said, "Detectives found no signs of foul play or drug use in this case."
After news of Saget's death broke, several of his family members, friends and co-stars took to social media to pay tribute.
"I am broken," Stamos tweeted. "I am gutted. I am in complete and utter shock. I will never ever have another friend like him. I love you so much Bobby."