What’s the best way to get over embarrassing moments? For Alaa Khaled, the bold answer is to broadcast them via podcast for the whole world to hear.
Brother of famous rapper-producer DJ Khaled, Alaa Khaled has found his own form of fame via a podcast ironically named Worst Ever Podcast. On the show, he invites celebrities, like Jodie Sweetin from “Full House” and Bryan Chesters from “Madmen” to share their most cringe-worthy moments.
A big name in the podcast circuit, Khaled also appears on his friends podcasts, telling his own story of moving to LA for his acting career, even changing his name to Alec Ledd to increase his chances of securing acting gigs.
Alaa Khaled: Pain is Best Served Funny
Originally a live show in Los Angeles, Worst Ever Podcast is now an award-winning weekly podcast. The show, co-hosted by Christine Lakin, brings actors, writers, comics, and TV personalities together to share their most mortifying moments with viewers.
Khaled and Lakin have a “brother/sister” relationship, which comes across in their lighthearted bickering. The duo brings on friends and fellow celebs, compelling stars to open up about their most uncomfortable moments so everyone can share a good laugh.
In one episode, Khaled calls up his old high school friend Joey Fatone of NSYNC. True to form, Khaled and Lakin spend the better portion of an hour ribbing on Fatone’s early days of success, from failing his Mickey Mouse Club audition to installing a waterpark-sized swimming pool in his backyard.
One of the ways that Khaled gets guests to open up is by being open himself. In several episodes, Khaled and Lakin interview each other. They share details – good, bad, funny and sad – of their own lives.
Alaa Khaled’s Itinerant Childhood
Khaled was born in Peru to two Palestinian parents. His parents had visited the country for their honeymoon and on a whim decided to stay. Shortly after Khaled was born, they moved to the United States, where they first landed in Florida before decamping to Louisiana. Due to his father’s business, Khaled moved around a lot.
“We sort of became chameleons because we had to fit into new schools; we had to adjust,” Khaled remembers. “That’s how I became an actor. I had to fit in to every mold in every city…so I knew that I was gonna be an actor.”
After realizing his musical and theatrical gifts in high school, he started auditioning for acting jobs yet hid his ambitions from his family. “I couldn’t tell my parents because in my tradition, you don’t leave your family,” he says, “You work with your family; you stay in the home until your married and have kids.”
From Alaa Khaled to Alec Ledd
After graduating from college in New York, Alaa struggled to make something of his acting career. “I was in a time period of New York around ’93…where Broadway theater was not accepting for ethnic people,” he remembers. “There was no place for me…This was a time period where Broadway was all-American.”
So Alaa Khaled left New York and arrived in Lose Angeles as Alec Ledd. “My agent said to me…listen, I want to submit you for this role, but I think you should change your name,” Khaled recalls. “You don’t look a certain type – I think you could play Italian, Greek, French, Arab, Jewish, whatever. So we think you should change your name so they don’t typecast you.”
In a short time, Khaled – or rather, Ledd – landed a number of small roles on popular television series, including Saved by the Bell, Charmed, and Hannah Montana. To his friends and podcast guests though, he is still Alaa Khaled. And his most embarrassing moments continue to be fodder for a revealing and often hilarious podcast.
Check out Worst Ever Podcast on Spotify here.
