Guardian journalist Paul MacInes figured he’d seen enough bad stand-up comedians do their thing. So he decided to give it a try himself at the Edinburgh Fringe. “As it turns out, few of them are as rubbish as me. Fired into the bearpit of Edinburgh’s most notorious stand-up spot, I was to leave clawed, gouged and with a tenderised groin. I wasn’t expecting the mauling I got. Indeed, I may never get over it.”