THE STAR: It was the best interview Arlene Dickinson ever had. Inside new CBC show ‘The Assembly’

In the series, a celebrity sits down for an interview with a group of neurodiverse cast members. No question is off the table.

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Most celebrity interviews offer the same kind of fodder. A little plug for a show, a mention for a cause, or perhaps a retrospective on a career or project. “The Assembly,” CBC and CBC Gem’s newest interview series,  flips the script on those expectations while offering unprecedented insight into the neurodivergent community.

“The Assembly,” which debuts Thursday night, is adapted from the French series “Les Rencontres du Papotin,” a show that has sparked several international iterations since its debut in 2022. The premise is simple enough: a celebrity sits down for an interview with a group of neurodiverse interviewers. No question is off the table.

Yet the show itself offers a complicated and compelling viewpoint for a community that is often under-represented in mainstream media.

In the Canadian version, executive producers Sean De Vries and Stephen Sawchuk cast the interviewers through community connections and outreach in Vancouver, and spoke with roughly 100 people who were interested in participating. After six months they narrowed it down to 47 cast members with 30 to 35 people present during each taping.