Quincy Jones, a 32-year-old stand-up comedian, has officially landed the highly coveted HBO co-sign. Jones, who first revealed his terminal cancer diagnosis with the launch of a Kickstarter campaign in February, received the good news during an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on Monday.
"What you don’t know is we called the head of HBO—and your people didn't even tell you this—but HBO is going to air your special," DeGeneres told Jones on Monday, who immediately burst into joyous laughter after accepting the news as real. "All the negotiations have been happening," DeGeneres added, offering Jones some water. "Your people know that but they kept it from you because we wanted to surprise you."
In addition to securing an HBO airing of his crowd-funded stand-up special, Ellen DeGeneres also revealed that Shutterfly had donated $15,000 to help with promotion and productions costs for the special, which is slated to be filmed on April 4 in Los Angeles. Jones previously appeared on Ellen's show last week, detailing his story of receiving the diagnosis and choosing to work as hard as possible at leaving behind a legacy despite being given just one year to live:
"This would be my opus," Jones said in the video launching his Kickstarter campaign, which has now far exceeded its original goal of $5,000 with a current total of more than $50,000 in donations. "This would be my legacy I’m leaving here. That’s it, you know?" For more information on Jones' special, including how to purchase tickets and attend the taping, please visit here.
