Original Coverage & Source Attribution: vicnews.com
Victoria man ‘breaks down walls’ with celebrities on The Assembly
Published 11:32 am Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Hayden Roth never expected to find himself interviewing celebrities on television. Now, he is learning that being himself can take him further than he imagined.
The 24-year-old is one of two Victoria residents, alongside fellow interviewer Tenyjah Indra McKenna, starring in the second season of CBC’s The Assembly. The unscripted series features a cast of 64 autistic and neurodivergent interviewers asking celebrities direct, unpredictable questions.
Roth appears in three episodes of the soon-to-be-released second season, including conversations with actors Jay Baruchel, Hudson Williams and Zach Galifianakis.
“I think a lesson that I learned was just to trust that being who I am can be good and get me places,” Roth said. “I don’t have to pretend to be different.”
Roth joined the show after a longtime friend encouraged him to apply. He appeared in one episode during the first season, interviewing singer Jann Arden, before returning for a larger role this year.
The experience has changed as he has grown more comfortable in front of the cameras.
Initially, Roth said he was nervous about interviewing well-known figures and unsure what to expect from the production. By the second season, he felt more confident in himself and the questions he wanted to ask.
One of the biggest surprises was how quickly the celebrity interviews began to feel like ordinary conversations.
“Something about The Assembly in particular is that the people who we were interviewing, their walls came down in a way that they hadn’t really before,” Roth said. “It just kind of started feeling like we were just talking to a regular person.”
That openness was particularly memorable during the interview with Galifianakis, Roth said. The actor’s sometimes difficult-to-read sense of humour initially left the interviewers unsure what to expect, but the conversation proved rewarding.
Roth recalled Galifianakis becoming emotional during the episode, describing it as a moment that stood out among the three interviews.
The show also gave Roth an opportunity to bring another part of himself to the screen.
A lifelong musician, Roth performed songs with his guitar for the celebrity guests during all three of his season two episodes. He said music has been a major part of his life, from singing in choirs to writing original songs and performing around Tofino, where he lived for four years before moving to James Bay with his partner and a friend.
Outside the show, Roth works with the City of Victoria’s parks and recreation department and runs a greeting card business with his mother.
He also found a sense of community among the other interviewers, whose experiences with autism and neurodivergence vary widely.
“The spectrum’s so big,” Roth said. “There’s all different people and the way that they have autism or that autism affects them is all different, but we’re all kind of unified through that one thing.”
Stephen Sawchuk, a producer on The Assembly, said the interviewers are central to the show’s success.
“They write all of their own questions,” Sawchuk said. “Everything that’s working about the show is really coming from the interviewers.”
The production team provides the setting, while the interviewers lead the conversations. Filming typically runs for three hours without stopping the cameras, allowing the discussions to unfold naturally. Interviewers can also step away when they need to, with a dedicated cast care team available throughout production.
Sawchuk said the series is built around ‘connection and authentic conversations’ between people who might not otherwise get the chance to know one another.
Roth hopes viewers come away with a better understanding of how autistic and neurodivergent people experience the world.
“I think that if everybody in the world thought the same way that we did, that maybe the world would be a little nicer,” he said.
The second season of The Assembly premieres on CBC on Nov. 1.
