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Quincy Jones: Terminally Ill Comedian Opens Up About HBO Special And Battle With Cancer

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 01:25 PST, Jun 2, 2016

Comedian Quincy Jones was diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma cancer last July and was told he would only have one year to live.

Jones had always wanted to star in a stand-up comedy special, and with the help of his Kickstarter campaign, launched by Jones and his friend Nicole Blaine in February, he was able to raise $50,000 to help his dream come true — $45,000 more than his original goal. In addition to the funding, Jones’ campaign also caught the eye of well-known comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

“Quincy Jones, stand-up comic, has one dying wish: Leaving his mark by making an hour-long comedy special. Help fulfill his last dream.”

In March, DeGeneres invited Jones onto her show and revealed some exciting news to the aspiring comedian, People Magazine reports.

“Here’s the thing that you mentioned last time, you want to do a comedy special,” Ellen told Quincy at the time. “So what you don’t know [is that] we called the head of HBO. And your people didn’t even tell you this, but HBO is going to air your special.”

Now, less than three months later, Quincy Jones’ dreams are finally coming true. His stand up special, Quincy Jones: Burning the Light, will air tonight on HBO for millions to see.

Earlier this week, in anticipation of the special, Jones spoke to Entertainment Tonight about his terminal diagnosis and what it means to him for HBO to agree to air Quincy Jones: Burning the Light. Jones admitted he never thought HBO would pick up the special.

He told the site, “I was hoping Netflix or Comedy Central. HBO was like the Holy Grail.”

“My initial thought was shock because at first I didn’t believe it was the segment producer saying those things,” Jones said of Ellen DeGeneres contacting him to appear on her show. “I thought it was like a friend or something playing a prank on me. [On the show], she turned to the camera and said, ‘Hey HBO, Netflix. You guys are watching this. Please do something for this guy.’ I was like, ‘Oh, wow, that was nice,’ because that wasn’t what they prepared me for in the interviews. That was off the script. A week later, HBO wants to do it. I was like, What? Are you serious?'”

Although the 32-year-old comedian is living out his dream, he is still battling terminal cancer. While Quincy tries his best not to let cancer get him down, there are days when he feels weaker than others.

“I don’t even really acknowledge my cancer,” he said. “I know sometimes my energy drops, sometimes I’ll get really tired or sad. I’ll know that it’s because of the cancer. But other than that I just don’t.”

Jones added, “It just makes me a little more grateful. It makes me a little less judgmental of comedy. People are just trying. Everyone’s just trying to get by out there.”

Quincy Jones: Burning the Light will air on Thursday, June 2 at 10 p.m. ET. Check out HBO’s behind the scenes video of the special below.

[Image via Ellentv.com]

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