Burning the Light

Quincy Jones faces a crowd with a unique deadline looming over his head. Diagnosed with terminal mesothelioma in 2015 and given a year to live, the Los Angeles stand-up spent his remaining energy securing an HBO hour before his time ran out. What makes the set work is how little he relies on pity. He gets the elephant in the room out of the way immediately, joking about the high expectations for him to actually die and admitting that he has a chemotherapy session scheduled for the next morning. It is a set built on dark humor that manages to feel like a relaxed club gig rather than a solemn memorial.

Taped at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles, the special was born from a viral Kickstarter campaign started by fellow comedians Nicole and Mickey Blaine. After Jones’s story caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres, she championed his cause on her daytime talk show, ultimately helping him secure the deal with HBO. Prior to his diagnosis, the Seattle native was a relentless worker on the Southern California circuit, once logging an estimated 1,000 sets in a single year to sharpen his craft.

His material frequently moves past his health, covering gay marriage, race relations, and the modern dating market. In one of the hour’s best segments, he jokes about the awkwardness of trying to fill out an OkCupid profile while terminally ill, specifically when the site asks him to define “long-term”. Critics noted the rough edges of a set put together under extreme time constraints, but praised his ability to keep a heavy room feeling light.