You may or may not know of Sanderson Jones, but he's one of the most inventive marketeers of his craft. The comedian's Comedy Sale show has proved a roaring success, and here he tells Lucy Wood more about it...

What made you want to get into comedy? Who were your influences?

At school I did a load of debating and got my kicks from making ad hominem attacks on the opposing team. This type of behaviour had me banned from two local girls' schools, and was a contributing factor in my lady-less teenage years.

Growing up, I remember listening to Chris Morris's Blue Jam on the radio, Harry Hill's first Channel 4 show and watching Eddie Izzard's videograms.

Who do you admire in comedy?

Harry Hill for his pure silliness, Stewart Lee for his wonderfulness, Hans Teeuwen for being crazy and Doctor Brown for taking comedy to places we didn't think possible.

How would you describe your comedy to a stranger?

By whispering into their ears as they slept. I'd whisper: "Sanderson Jones does Venn diagrams, charts, silly videos and live Chat Roulette."

Can you remember your first gig?

Yes, and the moment I did it, I thought: "Why did you wait so long to try it?"

How do you deal with a bad gig?

I take it out on my loved ones.

You're very inventive in marketing yourself. Where do your ideas come from?

ComedySale.com came from my love of all things internet-related, and my sales background. In 2010, I sold tickets to my own show in Edinburgh and sold at least 600 over the course of the month.

I realised that if I could sell that many tickets to 20 shows, there was no reason I couldn't sell that many tickets to one show. It would be ridiculous because, at my level of fame (non-existent), I'd never otherwise be able to play a venue that size.

The whole thing sounded ridiculous and silly, and I booked the Union Chapel. A key part of it was me thinking this was something I can do without any help from anyone else. The idea of meeting everyone also chimes with the 10,000 fans theory: that if you have 10,000 true fans, that will be enough to support your career. Getting out and meeting people was, I thought, the easiest way of doing that.

People will recognise you from the quirky Ikea ads. Has that brought more fortune your way?

It hasn't brought more fortune, but it did allow me to be less on the dole.

How long has it taken to get noticed?

I've been going for about four years and, let's be honest, I'm not really noticed. I still don't have an agent, have very few big circuit gigs and the only way I can get people to come and see me is by selling my tickets by hand.

Can you give us a sneak preview of what you're up to next?

I'm not done with ComedySale.com. I love meeting people, I love making silly videos and I love doing the Comedy Sale show. I'm going to do a ComedySale.com show in the Clonmel Comedy Festival in Ireland [17th - 20th November]. After that I want to do a tour of either America or Australia.

If anyone does want a ticket to Clonmel, they can email me through my contact page or tweet me, and then we can meet up.