Howie Mandel's plan to arrange a meeting between comedian Bill Burr and Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Billy Corgan, based on the supposed premise they were half-brothers, backfired.
A few months ago on the Howie Does Stuff podcast, Corgan, 57, suggested he and Burr, 56, might share the same father, thanks to an anecdote revealed to him by his stepmother when Corgan was 18.
Corgan recalled a conversation he had with his stepmother, who asked if he knew who "Billy Burr" was before Burr's rise to fame as a famous stand-up comedian.
The musician was told that the would-be comic "might be one of the children that your father sired in his days being a traveling musician."
Here is a clip from November's episode of Howie Does Stuff.
Corgan's recollection fascinated Mandel enough to eventually stage a supposed family reunion between the two Bills—without telling Burr the whole story.
On the latest episode, Burr was caught off guard when he was introduced by the "surprise guest." After the Bills shook hands, presumably for the first time, Burr turned to Mandel and said, "You're an a**hole."
To which the podcaster replied, "I'm an a**hole? I thought this would be great to bring a family together."
Appearing confused, Corgan turned to Burr and said of Mandel, "He told me you were totally cool with me coming."
"That's what he does," said Burr, not amused by the forced meeting.
After Corgan offered to leave and Burr asked if the segment could be edited out, Burr acquiesced and said, "All right, f'k it, now I'll do it."
The annoyed comedian directed his attention back to Corgan and told him:
"Did you ever think the fact that I never told that story [meant] that maybe you shouldn't?"
You can watch a TikTok clip of the awkward moment here.
Mandel caught listeners up to speed about how Corgan shared his family theory.
Burr weighed in with more details about their supposed shared father.
"He was a piece of sh*t," recalled Burr.
"He had two kids this close together, and he gave them the same f'ing name? He thinks it's different because he's Billy and I'm Bill. That's how he told the difference."
Burr clarified that it had nothing to do with whether or not he liked Corgan but that "It reminds me of all of that sh*t."
Corgan, who turned his interests to professional wrestling after purchasing the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 2017, understood and observed, "It just seems more of the same from what I've been hearing."
Burr did his best under the circumstances not to escalate tensions and told the innocent musician, "Whatever. I like your music."
"I appreciate that," Corgan replied, and the conversation ended with Burr responding, "Ok great."
You can watch a longer clip here.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
People didn't know what to believe.
One thing was certain: Mandel failed at producing a feel-good talk show moment.
Corgan tried to inject some levity by saying of Burr, "The fact that he said he can’t sing, I think, disproves that we’re related, 'cause I’m not funny, so...it goes both ways. 'Cause I'm not funny, you know what I mean? So, it goes both ways."
The Emmy-nominated comedian genuinely expressed appreciation for Corgan's musical accomplishments but added, "I just would prefer if you just kinda didn't go around not telling these f'king stories."
When he asked Corgan why "felt the need" to do that, Corgan faulted Mandel for setting the whole thing up, recalling an incident when Mandel emerged from a building, saw Corgan, and mistook him for Burr.
This prompted Corgan to wonder if Mandel was aware of his family theory, and to eventually open up to him about it in private.
Mandel later encouraged Corgan to "say this on the air."
Burr criticized Mandel, explaining "that's what he does. He's bringing you not, not because he's trying to heal the bullsh*t that we went through growing up." Burr added that the whole thing was arranged to benefit the podcaster with a ratings boost.
Following even more awkward silence, Burr continued, "What was supposed to happen? Are we going to go play catch? We're both in our 50s," prompting laughter from the hosts as well as Corgan.
After Corgan clarified that Mandel "totally set me up," Burr changed his tone and joked that Mandel will likely forget any of this took place and will instead be "gazing with his arms behind his back, you know, looking at his YouTube plaque" minutes after the Bills leave the premises.
