As a fan favorite on Kenny was managing storage facilities in Los Angeles when he first met Barry Weiss, which changed his life entirely. Ready to get into the auction world himself, Kenny worked with Barry and stood out because of his quick wit. With excitement and flair, Kenny became a buyer on Storage Wars season 10, quickly endearing himself to the audience.

While Kenny has been a long-term Storage Wars season 16, Kenny shared his infectious laugh and best stories.

Screen Rant: In of your kind of journey, you really transitioned from some very different work to become a standout on Storage Wars. What motivated your career shift, and how have your experiences influenced you to approach these auctions?

Kenny Crossley: Well, I used to be a property manager at the storage, and I used to sit there and watch these people skipping months [of payments], and the process of putting stuff out in the newspaper to let people know that there's gonna be an auction. You had to do that for an extra two weeks. But how I got on, they put me in Inglewood, the city of Inglewood, and I had just started. I think it was there like one week, then Storage Wars came there to film. So I was the one cutting the locks and stuff. I was like about 280, you know, looking all sexy and stuff, 280. [laughs] And Barry, he bought a locker. He bought a unit, but when they closed it, there was a mattress pinned up against the door. So they came in with the cameras and everything, and I didn't know nobody, but Barry came and said, I got a problem. I said, what's that? He said, I can't get it up. I said, that sounds like a personal problem [laughs] and ever since then, Barry came back and said, man, you should do this. This stuff would be you funny as hell. But I already knew the process of the auction. You know, I already knew the process of the auction.

Screen Rant: Always good to have some good insider knowledge!

Kenny: Yeah, I'm like, Lord have mercy. My thing is, I used to try to help people, but I was always getting in trouble. They couldn't find me because I had everybody laughing. I had them laughing. I was making the numbers, you know, making the numbers and everything. They said, how in the hell? I said, man, just let Kenny be Kenny. I'm right.

Screen Rant: Incredible. I mean, it's worked out for you!

Kenny: Yeah, I enjoy every bit of it. You know, the hunt, like each unit tells a story. You know, some people just put whatever it is in there. They just throw it in there. I one unit I bought, we were way in Riverside. It was like, I think I paid like $800 for the unit. But when you go and dig into it, they had all this stuff. I'm like, how the hell they didn't pay? And then I went in the box and they had a safe. I went in the safe. They had $1,100 cash in there. Oh my God. I'm like, oh, Lord have mercy. I don't know what happened to them, but I went straight to Carl's Jr. We got me a hamburger right after. I'm like, Lord have mercy.

Screen Rant: That's the right move. So, obviously your sense of humor is a huge part of who you are as a person. You've become a pretty viral meme here and there, especially, you know, telling people to watch your profanity. Did you anticipate that really resonating the way it has?

Kenny: Oh my God. Let me tell you something. I was driving an Uber in Beverly Hills one day and I picked up this kid. The kid get on the phone with his mom and he goes, ma, I think my driver is the watch your profanity guy. I'm saying to myself, who the hell he talking about? I ain't know nothing about no watch your profanity. He said, I said, what's up? Don't you know your meme? I said, bro, don't call me no names. I ain't know what a meme was. Don't call me no damn name, bro. He said, no, somebody making money off you. So he showed me the video. I said, who posted this? He said, whoever it is, they're making a lot of money. I think he got over 17 million views now.

My teacher from high school hit me up on Facebook. He said, boy, you ain't changed not one bit. You always destroyed my classes. You say something and the kids just bust out laughing. They forget what I taught them. But I'm glad you didn't listen to me because these people really love you for who you are, you know? I'd like to take that F back he gave me. He gave me an F in our class. I said, take that F back.

Screen Rant: Amazing. Well, at least, you know, maybe you didn't get the grade, but eventually you got one up on him, so that's okay.

Kenny: Oh, yeah. Well, I let her know. I said, you know what? The thing y'all be teaching in school, you know, school might not be for everybody, but people find ways to get around it and be successful. But that blueprint she had for her, that she was trying to enforce on us, see, God gave everybody a different blueprint in life. So the one that worked for her might not work for me. So I follow my own blueprint. That's incredible.

Kenny Reveals His Winning Strategy At Auctions

He Uses His Humor To His Advantage

Screen Rant: Generally, you mentioned earlier, you get people laughing and then maybe they don't notice what you're doing in the auctions or how you're bidding. Do you feel like you kind of do that purposefully? You're using your humor to your advantage, or do you think it's just natural?

Kenny: Well, then it's both because sometimes we get outbid. We get outbid. You know what I mean? Like, they don't want us to get that. They're like, you never got to do it. So they go, go ahead, Kenny, you can get it for 600.

But they really, it's a hard, hard thing, man, you really got to, they're like five seconds or five minutes, you look at their unit, you got to make a quick decision. Can you flip this or not? You know what I mean? But to me, every unit is like, you're going to Vegas taking a chance. Because you don't know, you don't know really what's going to happen, you know? Of course. You really don't know what's going to happen. You probably buy a unit for 40 dollars, next thing you know, you're going to make 1,500.

Screen Rant: That's the dream. Reflecting on your time on the show, obviously, you mentioned that one locker that had a safe in it. What locker purchases have been the most surprising for you or rewarding for you?

Kenny: I think this coming up episode. Oh, the one that's going to air Saturday. This lady, when we went to do the appraisals, she was so, she was an older lady, but she knew so much when she told these stories, she just captivate you. Like, oh my God, this lady is so wonderful and beautiful. I couldn't stop talking about it. So when I walked up, she said, oh, I know this is going to be a good episode. This is where I got keen. I'm like, what? But this episode here, I think it's the best episode I ever did.

It was so much knowledge. Yeah, it was so much knowledge and the stories behind it, man. All you could do is fall in love with her, you know what I mean? Because she was so into doing what she do. I'm like, Lord have mercy. Yeah, this is going to be a beautiful episode. I'm like, let's get the numbers up right.

[Cher]

I'm curious, maybe not on the most successful side, but what's the most unexpected thing you've ever encountered when you've been like looking through a unit?

Kenny: Let's see. There's a couple of them too. Let me see, the one that would stand out the most. Oh yeah, this season too. This season too. This thing looks so presentable. It looks so presentable. They had a file cabinet, they had the boxes all needed. I'm like, oh my God, look at this. What a dream to have it organized. I think this season here is going to be crazy because you're not going to expect certain people to do what they do, you know what I mean? Like Barry, I learned a lot from him. And I think people are going to be shocked how me and Brandi [ante], we bonded. We're like the new Bonnie and Claude. [laughs] Not Bonnie and Clyde, I'm Claude.

Screen Rant: Incredible. I'm talking to Brandi as well. What should I ask her?

Kenny: Ask her about this relationship [laughs]. She's going to go, "I love my brother Kenny." But she's always watching my back. I give her a lot of respect. Brandi, she's a very smart woman. And I learned a lot from her. And I learned a lot from Ivy and Dusty. Dusty is like, that dude is like a magician. Like I went to auction with him, a different auction, and seeing how he flips the stuff. And then we go to a yard sale and flip most of them. Dusty very knowledgeable. Him and Ivy. And Renee, Renee is another Dave. I call them sharks on land.

Screen Rant: I love that. I love that you guys have all had so much time together and built such bonds. Last question for you, what you do and how you carry yourself is very inspirational. For those that are inspired by your journey and by how you've kind of come into this world and figured it out, what kind of advice would you give someone looking to break in?

Kenny: Just be yourself. Just come with a little money because you're going to get outbid sometimes. But be yourself and people are going to respect you out there. You got to have a quick eye. You have to have a quick eye because somebody might not see what you see. You know what I mean? That little five minutes of watching them units. You just be on point and be nice to everybody because then if you're nice, they won't bid you up so high. They won't bid you up to something that $60 wind up being $1,500.

But I think the most, the thing that comes out to me that brings happiness to me when they show this show around the world, I get so many messages from different countries saying how I made them laugh so hard. That means a lot to me just by being myself. Other people might say, oh, look at that clown, but I bring happiness to a lot of people and that means a lot to me, you know?

Storage Wars season 16 premieres on Saturday, June 7 at 9 p.m. EDT on A&E.