The stars of Storage Hunters, the reality TV series from the US that has picked up a dedicated UK cult following since being broadcast on Dave, are coming to Swansea Grand Theatre next week.
Sean Kelly, the ever-smiling, ever-shouting auctioneer, whose style has been likened to someone attaching electrodes to a woodpecker, will be joined by his two co-stars, Tarrell “T-Money” Wright and Cameron “Green Mile” Rowe, larger-than-life comedians popular for their hijinks and hilarious bidding styles.
The comedy trio’s partnership goes back a lot further than the Storage Hunters series of which some 136 episodes have been broadcast since 2011.
“The three of us started off doing stand-up comedy together 19 years ago,” Sean Kelly tells Andy Howells, “At one point I had my own comedy club in San Diego California, and the three of us performed on those seven shows a week for eight years.”
“When I got the idea for the TV show, I was working as an auctioneer and doing a storage auction one day when there were these two bidders who got into an argument that lead to a fist fight. I thought hold on, this is a TV show! This is Antiques Roadshow meets WWF!”
Sean Kelly will be bringing The Storage Hunters team to Swansea Grand. Picture: Steve Ullathorne
The anarchic show follows a group of eccentric bidders fighting over other people’s abandoned belongings in the hope of striking gold. It’s a winning formula that’s proved to be addictive and compelling viewing. Although an episode of Storage Hunters hasn’t been made in over a year, Sean had the idea to pool the talents of his co-stars to bring a UK tour to theatres across the country.
“The show that we’re bringing to Swansea is a straight stand-up comedy show. Green Mile, T Money and I each door half an hour of our stand-up acts. Then at the very end of the show for the last 30 minutes we’ll ask the audience to bring some old tat from home or a cheeky item, donate it to us, and we’ll auction the stuff back off to the audience and give 100% of the money to Help the Heroes.”
Sean has already raised money for Help the Heroes at similar comedy gigs across the UK and at Edinburgh Fringe.
“The audiences are so generous and open their hearts up,” he says, “We want people to come out and have a night of laughing and enjoying themselves, because we’re famous from Storage Hunters we might as well do an auction of old stuff like on the show and if we do that, it might as well be a good cause!”
- Sean Kelly and The Stars of Storage Hunters visit Swansea Grand on October 23. Visit swansea.gov.uk/grandtheatrewhatson or call 01792 636000 for further details.