Pay tribute to late US comic (6)
I believe the answer is:
salute
'pay tribute to' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'late us comic' is the wordplay.
'comic' indicates an anagram.
'late'+'us'='lateus'
'lateus' anagrammed gives 'SALUTE'.
(Other definitions for salute that I've seen before include "A greeting, often military" , "Bring hand smartly to cap" , "Kind of welcome" , "Hail respectfully" , "Greet in military fashion" .)