Terminally Ill Comedian Quincy Jones Debuts Inspiring Trailer for His HBO Special

Quincy Jones was diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma cancer with one year to live last July

Photo: Janet Van Ham

Comedian Quincy Jones is one step closer to realizing a lifelong dream – seeing his comedy special hit the airwaves.

Jones was diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma cancer in July and was given one year to live by doctors. A friend helped setup a Kickstarter campaign to fund his comedy special, and after going viral and raising $50,000, the campaign caught the eye of Ellen DeGeneres, who had Jones on her show twice in one week. During his second appearance, DeGeneres was able to tell Jones that HBO was going to air the hour-long special, Quincy Jones: Burning the Light.

Now the emotional first trailer for the special, which premieres June 2, has arrived.

“What I have the ability to do right now is hopefully to inspire people to dig a little deeper and fight a little harder,” Jones says in the trailer. “Someone can watch this an be like, ‘That guy has cancer? That guy got told what he was going to die and this is what he managed to churn out? Well, I have no reason to complain.’ ”

Quincy Jones: Burning the Light premieres June 2 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO.