Sean Towgood created the Canadian comedy series You’re My Hero with the intention to show the audience a more complete picture of people living with disabilities, by using humour as a way to portray the ups and downs of life with cerebral palsy, he says.
The show premiered on CBC Gem in 2023, with the aim to shake up prevailing views on what it means to be living with a disability in the 21st century.
Ian, the lead character played by Towgood, is an angsty, blunt, unfiltered 20-something navigating the social pressures of life in an unforgiving world not designed for wheels. Like the character he portrays, Towgood has cerebral palsy, uses a motorized wheelchair and is very funny.
“I wanted to write a character with a disability that reflected my experiences and that other people could look at as someone who reflected theirs,” said Towgood, who lives in Toronto.
And like many young men today, his character lives with his mom, doesn’t have a job, and is struggling for his independence.
Towgood, who is also one of the show’s writers and executive producers, spoke to Brent Bambury, host of CBC Radio’s Day 6, about the journey to Season 2. Here is their conversation.
When you created You’re My Hero, you said that you wanted to change the way people think about what it’s like to live with a disability. What are you hearing from people who watch the show? How are they responding?
The response has been really overwhelming from both the disabled community and people outside of our community. Mostly people within the disabled community are saying: “Thank you, I finally feel represented and I feel like my experience is being filmed to a broader, wider audience,” because there hasn’t been a lot of representation for people with disabilities. For a long time in Canada, the closest thing we got to representation was Aubrey Graham on Degrassi. So I think it was about time that changed.
OK, so does that mean that you’re going to get into a big fight with Kendrick Lamar now?
Uh, well, I wouldn’t want to mess with Kendrick.
You’re one of the writers on the show and you created it. But what is the difference between you and Ian, the character you play? How are you different from your character?
So this is a real thing that we focused on… I wanted Ian not to have all the answers, and to be a fallible character and not necessarily be the most likable all the time. I think Ian was where I was when I was in my teenage years. So it’s kind of fun as an actor to go back and revisit a period of your life that you’re not necessarily in anymore. But as a teenager, I was very bitter and angry about the systematic barriers that I faced on a daily basis.
I think he’s [Ian] pretty likable. He is spiky, though. He’s got an edge to him. There is a scene where a character says to Ian, “I didn’t know you were differently abled.” What does Ian say in response to that?
He says, “For f—‘s sake, it’s disabled,” is the direct quote.
Did you have problems with the word differently abled and the euphemism of the word?
Yeah, I like to tell people, if I could throw fire out of my hands, if lightning bolts came out of my eyes, then yeah, I would call myself differently abled. But since I can’t do that yet, I’ll just go with disabled.
Comedy is a big part, I think, of what makes this show accessible to everybody. Has it always been a part of your life? Have you always been able to see the comic situation even when things were complicated or difficult or when, as you said, there were unfair barriers that you had to deal with?
Absolutely. I think it’s the old cliché. I’ve heard a lot of stand-ups say this, and a lot of people in the comedy space, but it was really a coping mechanism for me to get through it. Otherwise it would be really tough to deal with some of the stuff that I had to deal with on a daily basis.
In terms of the accessibility of comedy — no pun intended — I think comedy is the best way to go about educating people on disability, because when they’re laughing they don’t necessarily know that they’re learning anything.
I think it’s not so great to lecture people. But if they’re laughing, then it allows them to re-examine: “Oh, maybe I do that. Maybe I should rethink the way I approach certain people or certain things.”
There are things that happen in the show that are particular to people with disabilities. We see Ian stuck on a sidewalk when his wheelchair battery dies. He goes to have a beer with a friend and he needs a straw. He needs a friend to hold the beer. And these are situations that you find the humour in. But in real life is it the same thing? Do you find humour in that stuff now?
I think so, because no matter what the situation is, you have to approach it differently as a disabled person, [given] the absurdity of the things that one has to do to get through life… and the comments that people make when you’re just trying to go to work or go to the grocery store or stuff like that.
You know how many times I’ve heard the joke: “Oh, slow down there. You’re going to get a speeding ticket.” And every time they think it’s the funniest thing they’ve ever said in their life.
So Ian is 27, living with his mom and her boyfriend, and Ian says this is not an uncommon situation in this economy. But it’s also not uncommon for adults with disabilities to live with their parents. So what’s going to happen with that trajectory in the show? Is Ian ever going to get out on his own?
I would like to see Ian on his own. As you said, housing for disabled people is a huge issue; the waitlists are very long. I was on a waitlist since I was 18 and I’m much older now, and I just was able to get into assistive housing.
So those are the types of issues that we really like to delve into because we’re really the only show that tackles those on television. It’s bringing those issues to a broader audience with a comedic spin on it in a way that only You’re My Hero can do.
In the first episode of this season, Ian hires a sex worker. And I was wondering about what that was like for you because your real-life mother is on the show. Does it ever get awkward for you to deal with the subject matter that you put forward in this season with your mom on the set?
I mean, I think so. Anybody, if they had their mom around and they were delving into some of the topics that we delve into, it can get a bit awkward. But my mom is also a great actor in her own right, so she understands.
She understands that I am a functioning adult as well and I’m going to be in intimate situations. She’s always instilled in me to be as independent as possible. So I think she’s aware that I’m gonna find myself in some of those situations — not necessarily, for the record, hiring a sex worker — but situations similar perhaps.
There’s some pretty big name guest stars like Colin Mochrie and world wrestling champ Chris Jericho, who plays your birth dad in the show. What does it mean for you to have created a series that people love and that can attract big stars?
Oh, that still doesn’t really feel like a real thing for me. That Colin Mochrie was like: “Yeah, I’ll come on your show.” That’s unfathomable, to have someone of his comedic status co-sign this show. But I also think that means there’s something in this show that draws people to want to be part of it.
How is living on your own going? How are you finding the assisted living?
It’s going really well so far. There was a bit of an adjustment in the beginning, obviously, but it’s going really well. So I feel really supported and able to grow into my independence as a young adult. So that’s great.
