And That's What You REALLY MissedTikTok superstar, content creator, and host Max Balegde joins Kevin and Jenna on the pod!
He has over 3.5 million followers on TikTok alone and a huge career on social media, but did you know his path to success started with Glee?!
Max started watching the show when he was just ten years old, and his early TikTok account was all about his favorite series. He shares his 'most unhinged' moments from the series and the storylines he can't believe the network allowed to air.
Plus, he discusses how his successful career came about as a 'complete accident,' which led to a hosting career and more!
**We stand in solidarity with our union, SAG-AFTRA, during the strike. For more information, go to SAGAFTRAStrike.org.
And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Welcome to and that's what you read in this podcast. I am Jenna, And now is my second take of that intro.
I am Kevin. Things are going very well today. Today we have one of my favorite TikTokers who just a ray of sunshine. He is absolute joy on TikTok. I feel like I have seen him grow if you followed him for you know, the past couple of years we all have, and he has just become this really wonderful outlet of you know, he shares his life, the ups and downs and all those things, and he's just so wonderful and I'm so happy to finally get to meet him. I've only ever spoken to him or seen him online.
He's very funny. He's also a very good host.
Yeah.
Yes, it's a good skill that we should learn sometime.
Given why learn now?
Just like quit while you're behind?
Yeah, like we've gotten this far being mediocre, we might as well just keep phoning it. Today we have just Max, the one and only Max. He's just Max, you know.
Yeah, yeah, and he has some really really good memory.
So and he is legitimately one of the biggest gleeks I I think exists that I've ever encountered, like, legitimately started TikTok because of Glee Bring It, which is insane. So enough of us, here's Max.
Hello, Hello, Hello, Oh my god, I'm so ready. I'm so excited.
This feels very surreal. I feel like I've been watching you for forever in a non creepy way.
Been watching you since I was about ten in a creepy way.
So yeah, we love that.
We raised you good, we raised you. Thank you for being up late and you know, chatting with us.
Yeah, I'm usually I'm about I'm heading out off to this.
So wow, miss London so much.
I mean, it's just as cold, it's just like brand new. It's nice.
Yeah, it's not dependable, you know. Yeah, when we were talking about who some of like because we do a segment called shit, we found a TikTok like, well, we have to have TikTokers on And obviously you and I have been TikTok friends for a hot minute now in a creepy way, in a completely creepy way, completely, but I feel like I have seen you grow into this, you know, you're a brand. Now, you're a corporation, you're a whole thing. You bought a house, you.
Did, I'm all of these things tied up into one. Yeah, very crazy. And I started the reason when I started TikTok, I was making videos about Glee. That was my start into TikTok.
Wow, you're welcome, so.
You get a percentage of everything you do.
Actually shot up at my house.
IRS.
So you started talking about Glee on your tic tac. What was the impetus though for you to download tic tac? Like, was it like I'm gonna start posting I'm gonna be famous on this thing? Like what was kind of your intent on downloading me app?
That's opposite, I reiterate. I was posting Glee content, all right. I was not. I was not thinking this is going to be my career. All of my friends got it, and at first I was like, oh, I'm not getting that app.
That's my little sister.
Had it, and I was like, don't make me sick, right now, that's weird, And then yeah, I got it, and I very quickly, I mean, TikTok's really interesting, very quickly finds out your weird niches very quickly into like oval shaped tables, and you will be on oval shaped table talk. You just will as a deeply homosexual individual. My niche was, of course Glee I hate. And then I was like, everybody's making like videos about like oh my gosh, and Glee changed my life because of this, and you know, it was so empowering to see like Kurt Homo's character like and then I was like, guys, Glee is one of the weirdest TV shows. Nobody is bringing awareness to this. So I started a bold series that I'd completely forgotten what it was called until not twenty minutes ago when I searched it times that the TV show Glee was questionable.
I think that's how I found you too. I think I ended up accidentally on Glee Talk, which I didn't know existed. I was like, well, he's funny.
Oh I remember, it's so old. There was like me and like three other people in the entire world. I just found clips of me lip sync into Sylvest on the Internet that I didn't remember doing.
Oh that's how we feel, going back and watching Glee.
Likely from your memory, honestly, And I even wore like a zip up add this jacket.
I don't know where I bought that in the pandemic.
But committed to your craft, Max, you know that's right, That's why you are where you are.
That's why I'm in this very average three star hotel room right now. And then, it honestly was just such a natural progression. I had no idea number one, that it would be like a career for me. If you can't tell I did ultimately stop making Glee videos. Even though I did, I do frequently comment on them. Yeah, And honestly, like I described my career as like a complete accident, like it ended up accidentally happening because not many people were there's not a big influencer culture in the UK like in America. Oh my gosh. I went to LA It was the most shocking thing ever. People came up to me, so how many followers do you have? And I was like, gross, I know, but like it's just because it's so much more normalized over there, whereas in the UK. I'd never met a UK influencer. Like, it wasn't really something that I dreamtalk for myself. And I feel very lucky that I was just a weird or obsessed with Glee during the pandemic because here I am.
So you you host and you're a very good host. What is that something that you wanted to do or did that also kind of stem from TikTok? Yeah?
Literally, I'd say for the first year of doing TikTok, I actually worked full time at Loreal shout out great, great times, and they didn't know that I had a TikTok account at all. I'd gained about like five hundred thousand followers and then I got into a public beef with a footballer's wife on Twitter. Ridiculous thing in the entire world. You probably don't know who Rebecca Boardy is, but that is a deep like UK reference Daily Mail wrote an article on it, and I think they were literally like, this boy right makes Glee TikTok videos and he's arguing with Rebecca Bardi or something I think the Daily Mail. And then my boss called me into his office and I was like, I'm going to get fired, this is it? Like what am I going to do? And instead they just gave me more like social media responsibilities in the company because I had it was amazing.
They knew what was up, they knew they had a gold mind.
With you there we go.
But even then, that shows how little influencer culture that the fact that they saw, oh my gosh, this boy has a TikTok following and we don't know how to use it. Yeah right, And then as soon as that internship I got signed to a management, I hit a million followers, and then got signed to a management, and up until hitting a million followers, I'd not earned a single penny from social media nothing, which is crazy because I never pursued it as a goal because I just didn't see it for myself.
Well, also, I think Pandemic sort of expedited what an influencer can be because I feel like with the advent of TikTok and then everybody sitting at home being like, whoa, there's nothing else to do where very quickly it went from what we thought right like Instagram where everything's perfect and curated and it has to be like these six foot three beautiful skinny models and yeah, like you, which is why it worked out for you, but for other people like us, Yeah, very quickly it was like almost the more niche, the more you you are, Like that's what everybody was responding to.
Well, it's very personality driven now whereas in the past it was either like you had a lavish lifestyle that people aspired to or you have to. And then the holesting thing kind of came along because I was gaining a lot of followers based on my personality and just like being out there. So then the one of the biggest radio stations in the UK that called Reradio or one, they invited me to do a red carpet with them, and I had no experience whatsoever. I'd never even held a microphone in.
My life, Like, what was the red carpet it was for?
It was for like one of their events, like every year they do like just like a promo event for artists, like big artists. I think you call it. Guys call it like like the bat some sort of ball, like summer ball, like a artists just basically calm and then it's just to get like radio promo for the year. I was there like with my phone on a tripod and a random microphone that I'd bought of Amazon, and I was like interviewing these massive celebs and then from there it just had it like a trickle down effect, and honestly, I was just so lucky right place, right time. I had no experience. I still have no experience, but I'm just it shows that you just get thrown into a situation, adapt and like do it.
You either snink or swim. Some people get to Some people get in that situation and flail and freak out and not know what to do.
Best believe that the first interview of the day on that day was by far the hardest. It was an artist who was just not willing to answer questions. That's the worst. They had an open bond nearby, and I went to my boyfriend. I was like, any please, just don't get me a lemonade.
I just made it really quickly to just like get through this next.
Bit, and then I was loving it.
Yeah, it's like speed dating exactly.
Yeah, I know. I have such like a passion for it. It's like it's like a skill that I didn't know I have. Sure, So I just feel so grateful, and I'm also equally confused as.
To how I you are so good at it though it is such a skill. I've been put in situations where I had to I auditioned to be the host of X Factor US and I had never done anything like that. I completely bond like it was so and I was with all of these other people who do it on all the entertainment shows. Here it was all of them and me and Chloe Kardashian, and I was like, I don't know what. And I was just so like starstruck and intimidated. So you didn't fall into the trap that I did. I was like, I can't. And I was someone who had been on TV for years already. My good, this isn't what I do. I don't know how to do this.
Oh my gosh. As if you were a piece of the iconic time when Chloe Kardashian was the x bactor holes and I think it was Demi. The botto had like a golder or something of a fifth harmony wild times very niche reference.
But yeah, well I didn't get it. I had to like pull Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk aside, be like, hey, can I audition for this? And they're like, yeah, you want to.
I was like, yes, I wanted you to get that so badly. Yeah.
But see, if Max had the opportunity, he would have gotten the gig.
I probably would have had to either physically assault or poison Chloe Kardashian to get.
Oh, my goodness. Okay, so you've said you were ten when you started watching Tell me the truth. What was your your first experience with watching the show? Where were you? Did you watch it when it first came out, which you probably were really, really young, So just tell me your story.
I was actually in year six, which means that I would have been either like nine, ten or eleven, like around that age.
I know.
Sorry, I remember me and my older sister were watching. There was a channel in the UK that I don't even think exists anymore, called for remember TV channels.
By the way, I loved if I had all the best teen shows. Yeah, yeah, my Mad Fat Diary, Oh.
My god, yes, iconic. And she was just in the Barber movie.
Did you say, Oh, she's in everything? Oh yes, sharing is the Queen.
Oh my god, obsess. But yeah, So the TV advert was there for Glee, and all that it included was Rachel saying like I'm born to be a star. It's something along those sides, and then she gets a slush thrown in her face. It was like five seconds long, and me and my sister were like, that looks hilarious, like we need to watch that.
Watch it.
Then it became a bit of an unhealthy obsession for both of us. Like we then proceeded to watch it every single week for like well until it finished. And yeah, it was very much like mine and my older sister's ritual that we would watch it together. I for a good like two years, I got away with having my mom's credit card details on my iTunes account, and after every single episode, I just buy every song that was on it. And yeah, she was pumid off humid after that.
There's a lot of music.
It's a lot of music, and.
Yeah, honestly, the rest is history. Even when my sister went to university, she would like we would deliberately not watch it so that we could either call each other to watch it. Oh, it was like a deep like like even now when we talk about our childhood, that was like the thing that really bonded us because she's she's eight years older than me, so like we did a lot in common as people. And weirdly, then my mom had another child or no, I'm jucking o, my god, my mom is a very respectable woman.
I don't know.
I said that.
We love your mom. We love your mom.
It's like my mom too. I'm my sister who's the oldest and me are sixteen years apart. Yes, like what like what are you doing?
My mom had children like so stupidly, like as soon as one was able to fend for itself, she had another one.
And I enjoy yourself.
Love you deserve it. Even my younger sister when she was learning to speak, the one song that we would have because all the iTunes like library that I downloaded over the years then got like passed on to like when she was like five and got an iPad for the first.
Time, her inheritance was Glee music.
Yes, it was literally barely even speak. She had like one tooth and she would attempt to sing all the words to is it Dancing with Myself that you sang?
Yes, oh my gosh said.
She would watch the video on YouTube over and over and over again, like on her iPad, and she just sit there like so it's it's literally become like a statement. We like force my parents to watch it. And my dad is like a fireman who was in the army, and we'd catch him watching like Kurk play football like downstairs. Became a real like big thing for my family, Like everybody knew that it was like Glee was like four rooms.
So that's so sweet. Now there's a rumor that you had some Glee merch.
I had we quilt cover.
Yeah, talk about that, because this is the first I've heard of one of those.
If it was official Glee merch, it might have been like black market Glee merch, right, And yeah, I mean I didn't. I think my sister. My sister got it for me along with a Jans. This this is how I knew that I was gay. Most boys had like Poulsters of like you know, Britney Spears on the white fact. Now that would have been equally as gay, wouldn't it. I had like a two meter long polster, so Sylvester, and yes, I had that polster. I had the quilt. I also had the matching pillow cases. And when I went to university, I found these and so I brought the pillow case with me to university. Somehow, during that year of university I didn't get a boyfriend.
I don't know how.
Yeah, I was going to say, I bet that is not really helpful.
It's really weird. I don't know what was what was wrong? Then?
Yeah, Now when you were watching Glee, was it strange or had you seen other shows high school American high school shows before?
Never, I'd never I wasn't that big of like I said that Glee was like the first series that I ever watched and like actively got into. Wow, I'd never really been so involved in something before, and I'd never seen anything like that, like my I mean, I mean, as you probably know, especially yu kevinc you've spent so much time over here, Like the British sense of humor is very like self aware, self deprecating, whereas a lot of like American like TV or like especially ones that are shot in high school are kind of the opposite of that. Whereas to have a show that had aspects of that and then would literally like mock itself so character like Sue just point out, like how the hell do you have no money? But you've like had the most elaborate jungle set for a performance. You just can't you just can't beat it, because that's what a lot of like British television was doing at the time, right, and the music's actually good, it's like so much going for it that in anything before maybe like high school music, I'd say high school muschool, but that's like fully for children, whereas Glee is so not for children. I was ten years old watching it. But then I watched it back and I'm like, no, wonder I am the way.
That I am.
You're not born gay. You just have to watch Glee.
Absolutely okay.
So when you did your your Glee tiktoks early on, if you remember anything of these unhinged storylines, what is one that you do remember that is severely opinion?
Before this, looked at a few of my videos and I was struggling to find them on TikTok. I don't know why, but then I just sat there for about twenty minutes and just from memory, I want to read you the list that I generated, just from the top of my head.
I can't wait.
The first one is perhaps the most disturbing, and I don't know why I remember the exact park, but I did. In the episode previously uneared, Christmas Becky says, I have special needs, and one of my special needs is mouth sex with your face.
Oh god, no, so bad on so many levels. Oh my god, Max is a really good that's really really good.
Sue marrying herself. Of course, yes, it's going on there.
And even though the Adida's wedding dress was incredible and she.
Worked again right on tour. Yeah, okay, okay, okay.
That's the best thing I've ever seen. Sue's parents being absent in her life because they were famous Nazi hunters. Why not Will Suster singing to Sue to try and seduce her? That was.
I hated.
That's the little like moments and she's looking at his ass.
Well no, no, no, no, no.
I'm so sorry to do this to you, but gangam style totally no.
You're not doing anything.
Nothing that she hasn't done to herself already.
Yeah, exactly, Yes, okay, I need to ask you that off the back of bringing that up, are you are you okay?
I am, I'm scarred, but I'm okay.
She's a therapy.
What doesn't kill you me? Too strong?
That was a great song, too great reference next Quinn being in a wheelchair.
Singing I'm no I'm still.
Saying yeah, yeah, we did that.
That's the most popular one, I think.
Yeah, that's that's mentally the quote Asian other Asian Aretha.
Yeah, that was an early one.
Yeah, we started we started early.
The episode where it was compulsory for all students. To use wheelchairs, and they sold cupcakes made out of weed.
Welcome to America, Wheels.
The Twerking episode. That's that's all that needs to be said.
I'm really nervous to get to that.
I don't want to watch that.
I know, I'm scared.
I mean, this goes without saying. What does the Fox say? I'm sure you've spoken about this multiple times?
Yeah?
Okay, are you okay? No, Demi Lovarto's character just completely disappearing. I love that. That was great for Rachel's entire storyline after personality being wanting to be on Broadway and the second that she gets there, she decides to do a TV show that failed. Writing really just got great in season five, didn't it.
I couldn't tell you. I don't remember really.
Salad Archie getting access artists, sorry, getting access to a machine that allows him to walk, and then it immediately breaks rewak.
Yeah yeah.
When Brittany is asked what the capital of Ohio is and she responds, oh, that's.
So good, so good. That is my favorite line from.
That will I am wheeling into the swimming pool during mister Schuster's wedding proposal.
Oh it's so good.
Last one is when Sue mix Santana's slapper face with a chicken cutlet.
Just one of my favorite moments that we've got to look back on for years.
Yes, it is amazing that that ship ended up on TV.
Also very good that you remember.
Yeah, that is a very that's just straight up off the dome, top of the dome.
Very good.
It's very shocked at myself and diving now be answering therapy.
Yeah, you need to question your life's choices after knowing that you can just recall all of that. Have you forced anyone, let's say, like your boyfriend to watch Glee?
Yes, I have. I've forced my boyfriend, I forced my friends. I remember when I first went to university. I actually like sat them down and I was like, guys, I don't think that you realize, like you need to watch this show, not for like you know, for fun or to have a little something to dance to for personal growth and development, like I don't. I don't know if I can be friends with you if you don't finish the season, and like Sue is not one of your favorite people in the entire world, Like, I don't think we can be friends. And yeah, it was quite telling Actually when I put it on all my group of friends at the time, and one of them was like, what even is this? Like why we're watching it? She's blocked.
It's an easy way to read out the people you don't want your life.
Absolutely, but yeah, to answer your question, I've poused a lot of people to watch it and to listen to it. Bought the cvs and in like our family car would just be me like singing falsetto thinking that I can keep up with Amber Riley, Like.
Yeah, we all think we can until we can't.
There's no keeping up with her.
Well, we don't want to keep you from your night.
Oh don't be I'm having a great time.
But now you're you're amazing. We are so grateful that you came on our show, but also that your TikTok was all Glee in the beginning. We just love it. We love it, we love it, and we just adore you. You're You're awesome, and we'd love to hear a more elaborate list of your unhinged Glee stories if you'd like to come back at some point.
I would absolutely like to come back anytime that you're going over the specific.
Episodes okay, great, great, we'll do it.
Literally, like the best TV show all time. I remember genuinely saying to my mom at the time around me, the time of me coming out, I was like, I think that they should play Glee to kids in school. Looking back now, I'm like, no, they should not do that.
You were on the payroll be getting paid by everyone at Glee.
This has been amazing. Thank you so much for having met.
Thank you Mac, congrats on all your success. It's very good.
Thank you so much. It's such a pleasure to finally speak to you.
Ball me too, And next time I'm in London we'll hang out.
I want to see that that quilt cover where you were going with that then?
But I was excited to e the way.
You're the best Bye bye bye.
So sweet, isn't he sweet? Oh my gosh.
I'm so happy we got to finally talk to him.
I know, he's very funny, I am.
It's so weird to like have these people you have followed on something for so long where you feel like you really do know them.
Mmmm. That is the thing that we've talked about with all of these successful TikTokers who.
Are like I follow these people, No totally. I don't know them.
There's the difference of like them really they're being in short pits and on people's hands all the time, so it's just really crazy.
And I guess he's the first one where I've only spoken to online where I've met Chris. I've met Rod before.
His list of unhinged stories off the top of his head were very impressive, I.
Have to say, and they were all correct, yes.
With that first one. You guys, I don't know, you know.
I feel like as we get really into I mean, we're about to be halfway through the whole series, oh my god, the most unhinged things, and I think it is mostly thanks to TikTok. There's a consensus, isn't there. There's like an internet consensus about what are like the top five craziest things to happen, And I feel like hearing from him, it's reaffirming that and.
We might have to, like at the end of the series when we get there, do that, like the Unhinged episode where we rank for you guys, yeah, I'm talking to you out there, rank the most unhinged and we'll we'll share them all.
So what would also be fun is if we could get Ryan or Brad or Ian or all them at the same time and be like why how I cannot That would be you know, like a jury panel. We're gonna be like exhibit A, how did this happen?
Well, thank you for joining us, you guys, we really appreciate it and hope you enjoyed. Next Yes, and thank you.
And go follow him on TikTok. He is just a pure, pure joy.
Purely purely. See you next week.
And that's what you really missed. Thanks for listening, and follow us on Instagram at and that's what you really miss pod. Make sure to write us a review and leave us five stars. See you next time.
