Billy Corgan recently revealed an intriguing story after a podcast mix-up confused him with comedian Bill Burr.
Though Billy Corgan and Bill Burr don’t bear much resemblance, Corgan shared a surprising conversation with his stepmother from a decade ago, which suggests a familial connection. This revelation came to light during his appearance on Howie Mandel’s podcast, “Howie Mandel Does Stuff,” aired on November 27, prompted by an amusing error from the production team.
During the podcast, Howie Mandel noted, “Welcome for coming, and somebody just informed me that we have the wrong picture posted behind me, behind me right here,” as an image of Burr, not Corgan, was displayed. Taking it in stride, Corgan commented, ‘It happens, there are actually me and Bill Burr memes,’ and joked, “Listen if I had Bill Burr’s money, I’m happy to be a Bill Burr.”
Corgan then offered to share a story involving Bill Burr that few, even among his friends, knew about, asking if the audience was interested.
He recounted, “About 10 years ago, one of my brothers was having a birthday party, 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 that point, 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.”
“And she said, ‘Well, he’s this comedian’. And I think I even somehow called up a picture on my phone, and I kind of noticed right away, ‘Gee, he kind of looks like my father’.”
“Bill Burr looks more like my father than Bill Burr looks like me or I look like Bill Burr. So I said to my mother, ‘Why are you asking me this?’.
“She goes, ‘I think it might be one of your father’s illegitimate children. Bill Burr might be one of the children that your father sired in his days being a travelling musician’.
“This is a true story, I’m not making this up. There is no joke in this.”
Corgan then explained why the theory could hold some truth, elaborating to Mandel that his late father William Corgan Sr. reportedly had 12 children with various women while touring.
“So I said to my stepmother, I said ‘OK, that sort of works’ and I looked at Bill’s age and we’re a similar age and my father did once tell me that I had a half brother named Bill who was basically born around the same time as me, he told me on my 18th birthday,” Corgan continued.
He clarified, “I’m in no way, suggesting that Bill Burr’s parents aren’t his parents or anything like that.”
Let’s hope Corgan and Burr have discussed this matter before it became public!