Ellen DeGeneres surprised terminally ill comedian Quincy Jones on Monday with his own HBO comedy special. Jones, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy, was diagnosed with Stage 4 mesothelioma cancer in 2015. He was given a year to live.
The 32-year-old comic previously appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on March 15 to share his story, during which time admitted he was trying to raise money via Kickstarter to fund a comedy special.
“Here’s the thing that you mentioned last time, that you want to do a comedy special,” DeGeneres said. “That’s really important for you to do a comedy special. So what you don’t know, we called the head of HBO. And your people didn’t even tell you this, but HBO is going to air your special.”
Jones responded: “You’re lying. Are you serious? Are you?”
DeGeneres also informed Jones that Shutterfly, which had previously given him $10,000 to help with the campaign, was awarding him another $15,000 to finish producing the special.
The show will tape at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on April 4 and air on HBO in the spring.
