Billy Corgan says Bill Burr might be his half-brother

Billy Corgan thinks Bill Burr might be his half-brother.

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman revealed his theory on an episode of Howie Mandel’s Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast released today (November 26), after Mandel accidentally used an image of Burr instead of Corgan on the studio’s screen.

The mistake prompted Corgan to tell an anecdote about his potential relationship with the Mandalorian actor, which, he revealed, he had never told before. “Most of my friends don’t even know this story,” he said.

“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,” he continued. “And 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.

“And 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 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?”

He went on to say: “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.”

Check out the full clip below.

In other news, Corgan recently entered the auction to win Courtney Love‘s handwritten lyrics to the Hole song ‘Violet’.

Love previously exclusively told NME: “It’s not just about Billy Corgan, as many might assume; it’s about sitting on the fire escape of his flat, sipping cheap wine and taking a Vicodin (oh, to be young!) while the Chicago sun sets, leaving behind a bejewelled amethyst sky.”

The auction is part of a fundraiser by the wildlife sanctuary Ellis Park, which is running until December 15. All proceeds will go to the charity, which is dedicated to caring for rescued animals in Sumatra and was founded by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ Warren Ellis.

Corgan revealed via Instagram that he’d bought a ticket to enter the auction and referenced the quote she gave to NME saying: “She forgot to mention that I wrote one of the heart-rending couplets contained therein. But I will always love this song. Love you Court.”

Elsewhere, Corgan recently claimed that he can still write songs that sound like any era of The Smashing Pumpkins, explaining: “in five minutes I could write you something that would sound like a song that would’ve been on ‘Siamese Dream.’”