Kickstarter was put to excellent use this week when husband/wife producing duo Mickey and Nicole Blaine launched a campaign to fund an hourlong standup special for 32-year-old comedian Quincy Jones, an LA-based standup who was diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma in July 2015 and told he would only live for one year. Jones, who moved to Los Angeles from Seattle to pursue a standup career four years ago, wanted to fulfill the dream that most artists hope to achieve before they die: “My biggest fear used to be – before cancer – it’s the same one I have now: Dying without leaving anything. Dying before I have the chance to do the shit I wanna do,” Jones explains in the Kickstarter video (above). “So this would be my opus. This would be my legacy I’m leaving here. That’s it, you know? You just want to feel like you’re giving something to the universe – you wanna feel like you’re leaving something.”
Mickey and Nicole launched the Kickstarter campaign on Sunday with a modest goal of $4,985, and just two days later it’s far exceeded its goal, currently at over $18,000 with 24 days left to go. In an update on Facebook, Nicole said that the rest of the donations will go toward making the special, as well as Jones’s final months of life, as high-quality as possible:
My hands have been shaking for hours and I can’t stop bursting into tears. How can I thank you all? I’m moved and speechless. Today, while my 32 year old friend, Quincy Jones, was getting chemotherapy at a county hospital in Los Angeles, hundreds of people came together at the exact same time to make his dying wish come true. He was half-conscious when it was happening. In 2 hours of launching the Kickstarter campaign our little goal was met. When Quincy opened his eyes he discovered the love and support. His dream to film a stand-up comedy special just became a reality. Because of you ALL. It’s amazing what can happen when people come together. The comedy community has come together in a way that has made me cry. I don’t know what to say. Thank you is an understatement. We reached $15,000 in 10 hours. Any money that we collect past our goal will go to making the quality of the special more incredible and completed in the fastest time frame so that Quincy can see it. But more importantly, the extra money made then goes to helping Quincy live comfortably now. The laughter that Quincy creates will now be able to live on past his short time here. Here is our Kickstarter page. Please share and spread the love.
Head over to Quincy’s Kickstarter page to donate.
