Jimmy Kimmel Pays Heartfelt Tribute To Fred Willard: 'He Had A Light Inside Him'

Jimmy Kimmel got visibly emotional on Monday night as he paid tribute to comic actor Fred Willard, who died on Friday at the age of 86.

“Tonight’s show will be a special show,” Kimmel began. “It will be a sad show. But we will also laugh a lot as we pay tribute to a lovely and genuinely funny man named Fred Willard.”

Kimmel hailed the actor, who appeared in dozens of skits on his late night show (including as President Donald Trump’s father in hell, party planner and official nickname maker), as “more than just funny.”

“He had a light inside him,” Kimmel said. “You could see a glint of it in his eyes. And it made everyone around him happy.”

“We could not get enough Fred,” he added, noting how Willard rarely had time to rehearse the bits. “And he nailed it every time. Dozens of times. Up to 86 years old. He killed it.”

Check out Kimmel’s tribute here: