Iconic musician and famous comedian address half-brother rumors

Musician Billy Corgan and comedian Bill Burr are actually not related. But that doesn’t mean they don’t get a kick out of the self-started rumours.

Last November, Corgan was a guest on “Howie Mandel makes things” podcast. During the episode, Mandel’s production team accidentally put up a picture of Burr instead of Corgan. The Smashing Pumpkins guitarist/frontman went along and made up an elaborate story, considering they could be half-brothers.

“Most of my friends don’t even know this story,” Corgan said. “About 10 years ago, one of my brothers had a birthday and my stepmother was there, who was obviously married to my father. And my stepmother said to me, ‘Do you know who Bill Burr is?’ At the time I had never heard of Bill Burr. I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know he was a comedian or anything. He could have been the guy down the street.”

Corgan then continued the story, like one of those fables you hear around the campfire at summer camp.

“I thought the first thing she’d say was, ‘Oh, I thought you’d notice the resemblance,” Corgan said. “She says, ‘I think it might be one of your father’s illegitimate children. Bill Burr may be one of the children your father produced in his days as a traveling musician.’ This is a true story. I’m not making this up; there’s no joke in this.”

Mandel had something up his sleeve in his new episode on Tuesday, with Burr now in the guest chair. After 30 minutes, Mandel brought Corgan on as a surprise.

“Did you ever think that the fact that I never told that story that maybe you shouldn’t?” Burr says to Corgan. “It’s not that I don’t like (Corgan), it reminds me of all that s—.”

Throughout the rest of the episode, both Corgan and Burr play along with the story – even going as far as trading stories about their “father”. Ultimately, Corgan and Burr are siblings in the same way that actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are (not at all).

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Murjani Rawls can be reached at [email protected].