Miranda Kane was a 25-stone call girl who charged £2,000 a night when she worked in the sex industry.

Her career lasted for seven years. It was only when she started to lose weight she began to lose clients.

“They wanted supersized,” she says.

Kane, who grew up near Brighton, has now turned her back on the trade.

“More women have started working, which made it very difficult to compete. There is a culture of undercutting rather than taking pride in what you do.

“We wanted clients to choose us for what we offered and how we offered it. Girls now go for the ‘I am cheap option’.”

Two years ago, Kane moved to stand-up comedy. Her latest performance, Coin-Operated Girl, opens at Brighton Fringe on Thursday.

“I wanted to use my big mouth in a better way. I wanted to help other girls who are working.”

For her second show, she’s decided to talk straight about life as a sex worker, as someone who could have taken the title of “the UK’s biggest escort”.

“When I first started there were only a few bigger women, and guys who were seeing me were looking for bigger, more dominant women.

“They wanted someone who was going to take control, someone who was going to show them the ropes.

“There are so many hilarious things that happened and I can see the funny side and light-hearted side in those.”

It’s no surprise to hear Kane say she has always been drawn to drama and performance.

“People have always published books about sex workers. I wanted to do it in a different setting and to make it more than just about escorting.

“I have always loved stand-up comedy. I wanted to do the more light-hearted, funnier side of the industry rather than make it a lecture.”

The 2012 So You Think You’re Funny semi-finalist and addition to the Funny Women One To Watch list promises “the truth about sex workers and their clients”.

She’s been inspired by other women who have had success by revealing the secrets of their trade.

Belle de Jour, the diarist, is an obvious example.

“She started following me on Twitter and reading my blog. It is inspiring to think that someone like her would be interested in me.

“She wrote her diaries, but I am willing to stand up in a room in front of hundreds of people and take questions and talk about my experience.”

Kane was 23 and had recently finished university when she took to escorting.

“I realised there was a market for men who liked bigger women, but it took me completely by surprise.

“I put out an ad to see if someone would book me and I couldn’t believe after half an hour my phone started ringing. It seemed easy, enjoyable and lovely.”

She wants to change the public’s opinion of the trade.

“A lot people think sex workers have no option or choice. I want to show we are funny, intelligent smart women. We enjoy work – we just happen to have a strange career.”

Moral questions are for customers rather than workers.

“Yes, you do have moral dilemmas but it is not my morality at stake. I was trying to provide a nice service. It’s up to the client to have morality issues. I can’t be their moral guidance if they have a wife or a girlfriend at home.

“And for everyone who is doing it there might be five guys who just want a companion, some human interaction.

“We have this idea that clients are dangerous and they are scuzzy. What we forget is there are clients out there who are human beings.”

  • Coin-Operated Girl is at The Marlborough Theatre, Princes Street, Brighton, from Thursday, May 16, to Saturday, May 18 as part of Brighton Fringe. Starts 9.15pm, tickets £8/£7. Call 01273 917272