91Èȱ¬

On UK television this summer, the hottest disability in town appears to be restricted growth. Tonight, Comically Challenged joins the list of programmes we've already blogged about, Small Teen Bigger World, and Life's Too Short, featuring people of short-stature.

The show follows Aussie comedian Adam Hills, who has an artificial foot, as he spends a week with Phil Searle. Married with two children, Phil is a belfast-based actor with achondroplasia. Due to related walking difficulties, he uses a mobility scooter to travel long distances.

During their time together, Adam says he learned a lot about Phil's particular type of dwarfism.

"The main thing that stuck with me was how much physical pain is associated with achondroplasia. Phil told me he has to take around fifteen pills every morning to get through the pain. And he does it before his kids wake up so they don't have to hear him swearing. I always saw dwarfs as being height restricted, but I never knew how many other physical hurdles there are to get through as well."

Adam's mission throughout Comically Challenged is to create a stand-up routine for a Belfast audience, about short-statured people. He based it on his observations of Phil as he performed daily tasks like putting on a duvet cover and hanging out the washing.

Most surprising to Adam however, was how often Phil gets mistaken for other short-statured people while out and about, described previously on Ouch! as the disability doppelganger effect.

"He said he is always stopped by people who claim to be friends with him, but he has no recollection of meeting them. An hour after telling me that, a guy stopped us in a shopping mall, shook Phil's hand and said 'Chris, how are you?'. They chatted for ten minutes, and after the guy wandered off, Phil turned to me and said 'see? I've no idea who he is'."

By all accounts, Phil and Adam both learned a thing or two during the making of comically challenged. Adam's lesson was around that old chestnut, staring.

"My highlight was when I realised that the worst thing you can do when someone with a disability catches you looking at them is to instantly turn away. Tanyalee Davis [a comedian of restricted growth] said she thought it was because people were appalled by her. I told her it's because we felt guilty about looking. Later that night I saw a young girl in a wheelchair and instinctively looked away when she looked at me. So I waited for her to look back and I smiled. She smiled back, and went on her way, and it was an immediate recognition that it's ok to look at people, all people, just follow it up with a smile."

And Adam recalls Phil's realisation that other disabled people also use humour to lighten the mood.

"He ran over my foot with his mobility scooter. He apologised, and I said 'Don't worry, it was the fake one, I didn't feel a thing'. He laughed his ass off, then I think he realised that we both do exactly the same thing - use humour to make people feel less awkward about our disabilities."

Catch Comically Challenged, on Wednesday the 20th of July, 10 PM, 91Èȱ¬ Two Northern Ireland and afterwards on iPlayer .