June 11, 2021 6.01 pm This story is over 32 months old

Anthem for Lincolnshire: Sketch comedy troupe sings our praises

A comical ode to Lincolnshire

“I’ve got glee for Cleethorpes and Brigg is the best, got the horn for Horncastle, and I like Skegness” are just some of the lyrics of a song released by a sketch comedy troupe, which has had over 40 million views across various online platforms since forming four years ago.

Actors/comedians Georgie Jones from Bourne, Philippa Carson from Dublin and Will Sebag-Montefiore from Leeds, as well as Scottish lawyer Tom Dickson, got together to form Just These Please in 2017. The latest musical performance – Anthem for Lincolnshire – was uploaded to YouTube this month.

The group’s first foray into the comedy world was their debut Edinburgh show at the Gilded Balloon in 2018, before their song ‘When You Order Coffee With An Irish Name’ saw their popularity soar with over 30 million views across various social media platforms and more than 1.4 million on YouTube.

The group has written 25 sketches and songs which are performed in hour-long shows. They were also finalists for the Rockies Best Newcomer award at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival in Ireland, but their Soho Theatre run, Glasgow Comedy Festival and 120-seater Edinburgh Fringe performance were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The quartet didn’t let the pandemic dampen their spirits and focused on their online content, building up a following of over 85,000. They released a new video a week for 10 weeks on YouTube during the first part of the coronavirus lockdown, as well as some festive specials for Christmas.

Just These Please have also performed on BBC Radio 4 Extra, BBC Radio London, RTE 2FM, Talk Radio and BBC Radio Lincolnshire. They are hoping to perform in Lincolnshire in the future.

Just These Please have built up an online following of over £85,000 and the group’s videos have been viewed over 40 million times.

Georgie Jones, who lives in Bourne, told The Lincolnite: “We just thought it would be a lovely opportunity to do something and we wanted to do an ode to Lincolnshire.

“I provided little bits of Lincolnshire inspiration for the anthem, but a lot of the niche references came from our internet research.

“The reaction has been amazing. It’s been really wonderful and people have told us they have been watching it multiple times.

“Bourne have loved it too. A lot of people from Bourne have followed us from the beginning and travelled to see our shows and I’d love to take one of our shows there. We’d love to come to Lincoln too and anywhere else in the county that will have us.

“Lincolnshire is not known for its art scene, so it felt cool to honour the county in a musical way and it was a lot of fun to make.”

Georgie added that she is performing her solo poetry show at Stamford Arts in September and will be resuming her tour of Lincolnshire in the future. She has also appeared in a “funny television commercial” for Smarty Mobile.

Philippa added: “BBC Radio Lincolnshire did a live festival with bands, including comedy bands, performing live from home. We did a live gig with some of our songs and then decided we would write one specifically about Lincolnshire for BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

“We are on zoom with each other constantly and come up with our ideas together, and from being out and about, and then discuss how we can make it funny.”

The comedy troupe are also working on a new show for the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.