We can blame Howie Mandel for the whole mess. The sometimes comedian and judge on America's Got Talent has a podcast called Howie Mandel Does Stuff. He likes to stir up drama, and that, at times, seems unfair to his guests. Such was the case recently with Bill Burr and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins.
In 2024, Corgan had spoken with Mandel about the remote possibility that Corgan and Burr were related. It appears Corgan's father was a traveling salesman and had fathered several children while on the road. Corgan's stepmother had told him that maybe he and Burr have the same father. Burr has seemingly been confused about the situation and does not find it funny.
Still, Burr was a guest on Mandel's podcast when Corgan also appeared. Clearly, Burr was not expecting the singer to show up, and Corgan was visually unsettled by Burr being taken aback by Corgan's appearance. Maybe a bit more than unsettled, actually. Burr seemed quite peeved.
Howie Mandel forces Billy Corgan and Bill Burr into an awkward situation
At first, Burr appeared to blame Corgan for also being on the same episode as the performer. Corgan said he understood that Burr knew he would also be a guest. In a short time, both Burr and Corgan knew that Mandel had set them both up to discuss what Corgan had proposed about Burr's father.
Maybe the whole thing was a bit. If it was, both Corgan and Burr did their jobs well. It did not seem like the other was aware that the other was also going to be a guest. In other words, Mandel played a joke on both, only know one seemed to find it funny.
Burr said to Corgan, "Did you ever think the fact that I never told that story, that you know, maybe you shouldn’t? Do you know how many (expletive) like emails and crap that I got?... Listen, you’ve done well for yourself. I’m happy for you, you know? But I just would prefer if you didn’t go around telling these (expletive) stories. Like, why did you feel the need to do that?"
The comedian then turned to Mandel and said, "Does YouTube give you (expletive) award for healing fathers who secretly have two families?"
To be fair, Billy Corgan telling a story about who Bill Burr's father might be is strange. He said that on the previous podcast episode, Mandel suggested he tell the story about the possibility of family relations. Corgan should have just said no. Instead, fans of Mandel, Burr, and Corgan ended up with a very tense situation about nothing.