There wasn’t a spare seat at the Manor Pavilion Theatre on Thursday, August 10 for Matthew Crampton and Paul Hutchinson’s show The Folk Detectives, a cheeky and comic romp through some alternative Folk Lore, which the pair claim to uphold.

The audience was invited to attend the 13th attempt to record a podcast and it is this recording that frames this gently subversive show, as they set out to look behind the myths of Morris dancing and the origins of folk songs.

Woven into the podcast are words from spoof sponsors, laxative and memory booster manufacturers among them, selected, it is suggested, to appeal to a certain demographic. Not much is off limits. The show is peppered with familiar songs such as Little Musgrave, which is unpicked to reveal a rather novel interpretation, provoking gales of laughter from the audience.

Promised guest stars failed to turn up. Sting was allegedly caught in a snarl-up on the A30 in Honiton while Taylor Swift had ended up in Exeter A&E after an ill-fated visit to Babbacombe Model Village.

The show was overflowing with comedy, music, song, and lively audience participation. Paul Hutchinson demonstrated his extensive skill on the accordion with a rendition of Speed the Plough, played in the style of music from Eastern Europe, Australia, and Victorian Music Hall. There were so many highlights, it is difficult to cover all of them, but outstanding was the exploration of the history of yodelling via Tibetan and Chinese opera through to the country and western classic Jolene.

Matthew and Paul claim 'to boldly dig where others seek to bury' and mine rich comic seams in this endeavour. Another highlight of the evening were the words of famous British poems from Wordsworth, T S Eliot, Rupert Brooke and Philip Larkin sung to the tune of The Laughing Policeman, culminating with Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky.

The pair delighted the audience with an encore exploring the five tunes most dangerous to human health, placing the theme to BBC’s long-running soap The Archers in number one position. What certainly was a tonic to human health and well-being was two hours of Matthew and Paul, who brought talent, insights, comedy and music in equal measure to the Festival with this show.