Howie Mandel’s hackery reached a new level earlier this year when he surprised comedian Bill Burr by bringing The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan onto the set to address speculation that the pair are brothers. Mandel lied to Corgan by saying that Burr was cool with it, which Burr clearly wasn’t.
To make a long story short, Billy Corgan once shared an anecdote about his suspicions that his father is also Bill Burr’s father, given various circumstances such as appearances and their names.
Mandel latched onto that story and, while having Burr on his show to promote his new stand-up special, sprung Corgan on him to discuss their potential shared parentage despite the pair having never met. Upon sitting down, Burr basically asked Corgan, “Hey, since I never discussed this stuff publicly, you think maybe you should’ve kept a lid on it, too?”
“That’s the thing, he’s bringing [us] in here not because he’s trying to heal the bulls— that we went through growing up. He’s getting [us] here just for the f—— ratings,” Burr said in the moment.
The moment immediately became uncomfortable and Burr was clearly angry with Mandel for putting both he and Corgan in that position.
Now, with about two weeks passing since the incident, Mandel has had time to reflect and issued a heartfelt apology on a recent episode of his podcast Howie Mandel Does Stuff.
“I want to apologize. I feel horrible, and I’m sorry, Bill. I’m sorry, Billy. I only tried to do something good,” Mandel said. “I legitimately thought I was doing something nice, I swear to you. I thought it was funny… Bill Burr said I’m a Hollywood w—-. I should be proud of that? I’m not. The truth of the matter is, if he feels bad, I feel bad.”
On a subsequent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, in which Eisen — somewhat strangely given that it’s not even up for debate — asked if we was “really pissed,” Burr blasted Mandel for being a ‘Hollywood w—-‘, which is exactly what he was in that moment given that he tossed aside the feelings of his guest (and maybe even his friend, although that’s unclear) in order to engineer a viral moment.
“I don’t like… talk about (my stuff), I don’t. So Howie (Mandel) did what he did because he is a Hollywood w—e and he doesn’t care what happens. He could have said something and he just, you know, brings up all that weirdness,” Burr told Eisen before late ripping on him for being a company man for the NFL.
Burr’s new stand-up special — the reason he’s been out this current promo tour — is titled Drop Dead Years and will be released on Hulu on March 14. Later this year, Burr is also set to make his Broadway debut in a production of Glengarry Glen Ross alongside Bob Odenkirk and Kieran Culkin.