In late January 2025, rumors circulated online that actor/comedian Bill Burr and Smashing Pumpkins frontman, musician Billy Corgan, were recently revealed to be half-brothers.
The rumor spread on social media platforms like X (archived), Reddit (archived), and YouTube (archived), with users trying to suss out if the news was actually true or merely a comedy bit.
It is not the first time the pair have been linked, thanks to their similar looks of a shaved head and beard, as a 2019 post on X (archived) pointed out.
Billy Corgan and Bill Burr need to form a band called BillBilly and never reveal which is which.
Also, Tom Waits needs an album called Tom Waits For No Man. pic.twitter.com/FXZ8qGf0H4— Michael Swaim (@SWAIM_CORP) January 20, 2019
The sibling claim originated when Corgan appeared on comedian Howie Mandel's podcast, "Howie Mandel Does Stuff," in November 2024, in which the memes pointing out the physical similarities between the two men were discussed.
This prompted Corgan to tell a story that, according to the musician, occurred 10 years earlier. Corgan said:
My stepmother said to me, "Do you know who Bill Burr is?" Now 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 … She said, "Well, he's this comedian…" And I think I even somehow called up a picture on the phone, and I kind of noticed right away, "Gee, he really 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 he 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 traveling musician…"
The first time I ever saw Bill Burr's face, I had no idea who he was. Could've been the guy next door or the most famous comedian on the earth. I had no idea. The first time I saw his face I thought, "Oh my God, he looks like Daddy." Like I had an immediate reaction. Anybody in my inner circle that knows this story — people who knew my father — when I go, "Doesn't Bill Burr look like Daddy?" They all have the same reaction. "Oh my God, he really looks like your father."
While Corgan admited that his father once revealed he had a half-brother named Bill, Corgan added, "It's my belief at this point, because I've sat on this story for 10 years, that I don't think Bill Burr and I are related. I think it's just one of those things." He goes on to point out that there are other celebrities who look alike, such as Bono and Robin Williams.
However, the rumor escalated when Burr was a guest on the same podcast in January 2025 and host Mandel surprised Burr with an appearance from Corgan. According to Corgan, he was under the impression Burr was aware that he was going to be joining Burr on the show to discuss their potential sibling relationship.
Both guests appeared annoyed by the ambush but played along. The two engaged in conversation about their fathers and Burr asked Corgan, "Did you ever think the fact that I never told that story, that maybe you shouldn't?... He's bringing you in here, not because he's trying to heal the bulls*** that we went through growing up… What was supposed to happen? Are we going to go play catch? We're both in our 50s."
A few days after his appearance on "Howie Mandel Does Stuff," Burr appeared on "The Rich Eisen Show," in which he addressed the incident and his feelings toward Mandel's actions.
Howie did what he did because he is a Hollywood whore. He doesn't care what happens. He could've said something and he just brings up all that weirdness. Billy's fine, that was the first time I ever met him. That was fine or whatever, but I did not appreciate what Howie did. Not at all. But he's Howie, so he's sort of hard to hate. How do you like hate a germaphobe? He's not threatening.
While it appears both Corgan and Burr have accepted the possibility of there being truth to this rumor based on their conversation on "Howie Mandel Does Stuff," they did not respond to requests from Snopes for comment.
Further, they do not allude to any sort of genetic testing done to confirm their relation, and there is no available evidence the two are actually related other than physical similarities and the story from Corgan's stepmother.