Billy Corgan thinks Bill Burr could be his half-brother

The Smashing Pumpkins’ leader Billy Corgan and comedian Bill Burr are both pale, bald, famous guys with the same first name. They both like pro wrestling and both seem to have strong opinions about cancel culture. Until now, I would have thought that these were the only things these two men had in common. But Corgan thinks they may have something else in common – that they may actually have the same father.

Today Corgan appeared on an episode of Howie Mandel Howie Mandel does stuff podcast, and Mandel realized he had mistakenly placed a picture of Bill Burr behind Corgan. Corgan didn’t mind and this led to Corgan telling a story about their possible relationship:

I’ve never told anyone. In fact, most of my friends don’t even know this story. About 10 years ago one of my brothers had 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 kind of pulled up a picture on the phone and immediately realized, “Man, he kind of looks like my dad.” Bill Burr looks more like my dad Bill Burr like me or me like Bill Burr. So I said to my mother, “Why are you asking me that?”

I thought the first thing she would say would be, “Oh, I thought you’d notice the resemblance.” She says, “I think it might be one of your father’s illegitimate children. Bill Burr could be one of the children your father fathered during his time as a traveling musician.” This is a true story. I’m not making this up; This isn’t a joke.

Billy Corgan is 57, a year older than Bill Burr. His father, a guitarist, was a chaotic presence in his life and he died in 2021. But Burr, at least according to the Wikipedia page I’m currently staring at, grew up with both parents, and his father Robert Burr was one too Dentist. So… probably not? Burr hasn’t said anything about it yet, but I can imagine the tone he’ll use when he broaches the subject.