Set in the drought-stricken town of Dunburn, THE DEB follows big-hearted farm girl Taylah Simpkins (Natalie Abbott), whose dreams of shining at the annual Debutante Ball are turned upside down by her sharp-witted
city cousin Maeve (Charlotte MacInnes). Declaring the event a “heteronormative shit-show,” Maeve shakes up the town and Taylah’s plans, sending both on a hilarious, touching and music-filled journey toward friendship, self-discovery, and stepping confidently into the spotlight.
Marking the directorial debut of Rebel Wilson, this Australian comedy-musical is about to dance it’s way into Australian cinemas on April 9. Leading up to the films release, Nick L’Barrow spoke with one of the films stars, Shane Jacobson, about why the comedy and musical genres work so well together, and Shane also talks about Kenny, his iconic mockumentary about a portaloo battler, 20 years on.
Nick: As I was watching The Deb, it stuck out to me that comedy and music and dancing all have one very important thing in common – timing. I’m curious to know if you have ever thought of the interesting correlation between the technical aspects of both comedy and musicals?
Shane Jacobson: Yeah, well, timing with music is going beat by beat by beat. And you’re right, dancing is timed in counts of 8. And good comedy also has a rhythm to it. Comedy’s beats come in the count of 3. Comedy has a magic number and it’s 3. You have something happen, then something else happens, then the punch line comes on that third hit. There is definitely a rhythm and timing to it.
It’s funny, I don’t think I’ve ever really correlated that they all require the same thing to succeed, but when you pose it like that, you’re right. They all have that same secret ingredient. If you don’t want to burn the pan, you gotta put the oil in. And the oil in the pan is timing.
Nick: I think The Deb has a really great story about watching these characters go through a journey of self-acceptance, even though they are both very different personalities. And I think that audiences will find different things to resonate with in this story. How have movies and stories played a role in the journey of your own life?
SJ: I do think The Deb does that really well. You know, you and I have spoken before about the 20th anniversary of Kenny, and that had humour and pathos. And I think that’s what audiences want. You want to feel, and then you want to laugh out loud. That’s the great journey that you can take audiences on. You want to have an opinion about characters on screen.
For my character in this, I drew from my father in real life. There are moments in my real life that I look at in this film– so, I actually did debutante balls when I was a kid. I got asked three times to dance with three different girls at debs. But the first time, without a doubt, was the most special. There were identical twin girls, and it may sound weird, I only had a crush on one of them [laughs]! They were both close friends though. Still are to this day. And she asked me to dance with her at the ball, and my cheeks went all red. I remember feeling hot and flustered. And I responded, ‘Yes’. She wore a beautiful white dress. I wore a full on tuxedo. And it was like a wedding day at 16. And that was huge for me. So, whether it was ironically, or interestingly, or coincidentally, here I am years later doing this film.
I used to dance as a kid in Western Melbourne, and that wasn’t really a place where that happened in the day. I really got out of my comfort zone, to say the least. And I had a moment where I was performing, and I was backstage changing into my dancing lycra and sequin outfit, and the school ruffians came in – three or four of them. And there was guy named George, and I was sure he was there to beat me up. And I thought, “Well, this is the price I pay for dancing in the western suburbs of Melbourne.” And he asked how long I’d been dancing for and where I learnt to do it. And I answered, and he said, “That’s good. Keep doing it.” And he left. Now, that’s probably a far more serious answer than you were expecting, but that was a moment for me where I made a choice to step forward and do what I want to do. And there were the moments in my life that really informed this character and this movie.
Nick: Thank you for sharing that, Shane. And that really does feed into the themes of the film so strongly. Another one of those themes is disrupting the status quo, which I believe is something important that art does. As a creative, are you ever thinking consciously about challenging norms and disrupting the status quo with your art?
SJ: You know, I’ve always had the pleasure to play roles, whether it’s on stage or in front of a lens, that is hopefully going to represent something where people go, “Hang on a moment! What’s going on here?” I played Edna in Hairspray, where I go on stage as a woman and play a woman. A loving mother. And my job when I walked out on stage was, by the end, to have people not see Shane Jacobson in a dress, but see Edna, see this mother. And when I did that, it felt important for a multitude of reasons.
Then I get the chance to play a rural farmer from a drought stricken area, who’s trying to figure out how to be a father to a daughter without the mother in the picture. I did an interview where the journalist who told me he had lost his father when he was young, and he saw a lot of himself in the character and that a lot of things in the film made him feel something. I love the opportunity to go out and play something where I might shine a light on something.
I did The Full Monty. I walked out on stage and took all my clothes off, which I am very uncomfortable doing. Because, well, I don’t look like a model. But that took me out of my comfort zone again, but it was to remind men to go out and get themselves checked for men’s cancers. And as a result, I’ve been able to meet, I don’t know, maybe five men who have said that I saved their lives because they went and got checked for bowel cancer because they saw The Full Monty. And that’s what art can do. Entertainment does a pretty good job of getting people to witness new perspectives through these characters. It makes you go, “I never thought of it that way.”
Nick: As you mentioned earlier, we’ve spoken before about Kenny’s 20th anniversary this year. And now, in 2026, we have another Australian comedy getting a cinematic release, which is amazing. How much does it excite you that people are going to gather in a cinema, and communally experience a uniquely Australian comedy again, just as they did 20 years ago with your own film?
SJ: There’s been Grease, [The] Rocky Horror [Picture Show], Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla [The Queen of the Desert]. We had those movies 30 years ago. And for me, and my mum, and my brother and older sister, we loved those. And now with The Deb, it’s all this original music written by Meg Washington, and that’s what thrills me. That these are original pieces of music written for an Australian musical movie.
My judges for this movie are my wife and children. I can’t please everybody, but I can please my own family. I’m always thinking about what they think about things. And they got to see a special screening of the film, and they loved it. And that thrills me. The fact there is a musical that my kids love, like those other ones from the past, that fucking thrills me.
Nick: That’s so interesting to me that you are thinking about what your family thinks about your work, because it is special to share these meaningful things with the people you love and care about. I remember you mentioning before the Kenny 20th anniversary screening that your kids hadn’t seen the movie, and they were there in the audience that night. What did they think of Kenny?
SJ: I’ll tell you what was really cool about that. I hadn’t factored in that my kids hadn’t seen it before that night, before we watched the film. Seeing their faces all the way through, seeing them see their grandfather, their uncle, their grandmother, their auntie, their father, their friends, and realise they’re seeing all these people they’ve known forever on the screen in this “movie that their dad made” was something else. They’ve spent 20 years hearing people shout “Kenny” from their cars at me, or people stopping in the street. But it was good. I was thrilled. We got back to the hotel that night, and they said, “That was cool, Dad”. That was a good little notch in the belt.
Thank you so much to Shane for his time, and to Rialto Distribution for organising the interview. The Deb is in Australian cinemas April 9.
