--- title: Ellen DeGeneres Convinces HBO to Air Comedy Special description: After convincing by Ellen DeGeneres, HBO will air a comedy special from Quincy Jones, who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. canonical: https://time.com/4265842/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-21T14:33:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:04:03.835Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Ellen Convinced HBO to Air a Dying Comic's Standup Show og:description: Quincy Jones wanted to record a stand-up routine before he died og:url: https://time.com/4265842/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5e5103d1b290a4a/69888bc90b72e358316e89c8/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special-quincy-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: People's Choice Awards 2016 - Press Room og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ellen Convinced HBO to Air a Dying Comic's Standup Show twitter:description: Quincy Jones wanted to record a stand-up routine before he died twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5e5103d1b290a4a/69888bc90b72e358316e89c8/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special-quincy-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ellen DeGeneres Convinced HBO to Air a Dying Comedian's Standup Show > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly Mar 21, 2016 2:33 PM UTC  Ellen DeGeneres poses on the press room at the 2016 People's Choice Awards at Microsoft Theater on January 6, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Ellen DeGeneres poses on the press room at the 2016 People's Choice Awards at Microsoft Theater on January 6, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images by [Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly Mar 21, 2016 2:33 PM UTC That heartfelt plea wasn’t for nothing. Ellen DeGeneres announced on her show Monday that she had successfully convinced HBO to air a stand-up special from 32-year-old comedian Quincy Jones, who recently was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Jones [previously appeared on _The Ellen DeGeneres Show_](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/15/ellen-degeneres-comedian-cancer-quincy-jones-hbo-netflix) on March 15 to tell his story, at which time DeGeneres donated $10,000 to his campaign and pleaded with Netflix or HBO to air Jones’ special. On Monday’s show, DeGeneres surprised Jones with the news that they had succeeded. “We called the head of HBO, and your people didn’t even tell you this, but HBO is gonna air your special,” DeGeneres announced to an astonished Jones. After Jones was diagnosed with a rare form of terminal cancer in July 2015, he decided he wanted to record a stand-up special before he died, and his friends started a Kickstarter page to raise money. The initial goal was less than $5,000, but the campaign now has brought in more than $50,000\. On his first appearance, DeGeneres presented Jones with a check for $10,000 from Shutterfly; on Monday she outdid herself, giving him an additional $15,000 from Shutterfly to help produce the special. Jones will record his special on April 4 at the Terragram Ballroom, to air sometime this spring. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/21/ellen-degeneres-quincy-jones-hbo-special) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4265842/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4265842/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special/"},"headline":"Ellen DeGeneres Convinced HBO to Air a Dying Comedian's Standup Show","datePublished":"2016-03-21T14:33:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:04:03.835Z","description":"Quincy Jones was diagnosed with terminal cancer and wanted to record a stand-up routine before he died","url":"https://time.com/4265842/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special/","keywords":["Television","Ellen Degeneres"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5e5103d1b290a4a/69888bc90b72e358316e89c8/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special-quincy-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5e5103d1b290a4a/69888bc90b72e358316e89c8/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special-quincy-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"People's Choice Awards 2016 - Press Room","caption":"Ellen DeGeneres poses on the press room at the 2016 People's Choice Awards at Microsoft Theater on January 6, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4265842/ellen-degeneres-hbo-special/","name":"Ellen DeGeneres Convinced HBO to Air a Dying Comedian's Standup Show"}}]}] ```