Chuy Bravo, Chelsea Handler‘s sidekick on the E! talk show Chelsea Lately, has died. He was 63.
The fan-favorite Mexican-American performer passed away suddenly on Saturday night, ET reported.
Chuy had worked on Chelsea Lately from its 2007 debut until 2014, when it ended its eight-season run. Earlier this month, Chelsea paid tribute to him on his birthday.
“Happy Birthday to my OG Nugget @chuybravo,” the comedienne wrote, alongside a photo of the two posing together on the Chelsea Lately set.
“I love this picture because—not only does it look like Chuy just launched out of my peekachu, I look like a member of ZZ Top,” she said. ”Happy birthday Chuy, and thank you for 8 years of heavy petting.”
“I just heard minutes ago about our Chuy,” Chelsea Lately writer and comedienne Heather McDonald wrote on Instagram, alongside an announcement about his death. “I don’t have many details but we are finding now Please keep his family in your prayers and remember all the laughs and joy he brought to so many of us. #chuybravorip.”
Chuy was born Jesús Melgoza in Tangancícuaro, Michoacán in Mexico and immigrated to the United States as a teenager. He lived in the San Fernando Valley in the Los Angeles area and graduated from Sylmar High School in Sylmar, California.
In an interview posted on Radar Online last week, Chuy thanked Chelsea for her kind words on Instagram. “I have been out of town in Mexico. Wow. Thank her very much. She loves me,” he said.
He said he and Chelsea had not seen each other since Chelsea Lately went off the air.
“She is very busy,” he told the outlet. “We have both been busy trying to do our thing that we haven’t seen each other since. But we text, we call each other. She called me last week actually before my birthday.”
“I love her. She is my dearest,” he added. “I would definitely accept a job if she offered it to me.”
Last year, he filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy, E! News has confirmed. The case was closed in October. Chuy told Radar Online in his recent interview, when asked about his well-being, “I can’t complain.”
During his time on Chelsea Lately, Chuy was treated for and overcame prostate cancer.
Prior to joining the show, he had small roles in movies such as The Honeymooners and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.
This marks the second death of a Chelsea Lately star. In February, one of the show’s roundtable regulars and its longtime audience warmup comedian Brody Stevens died at age 48.
—Additional reporting by Spencer Lubitz