Let’s Try To Wrap Our Brains Around David Letterman’s Post-Retirement Look

Do you recognize the bald bearded badass looking straight back at you at the top of this post? What’s that? You read the link that brought you here so there’s no suspense? Understood. Please play along anyway.

Yes, that’s David Letterman looking less like your wisecracking Late Show uncle that had partial custody of you late on weeknights and more like someone that you would swear your loyalty to in any sort of post-apocalyptic scenario. We say this because he looks like a grizzled vet of a Rob Zombie movie rather than for his commitment to Ball State volleyball. (The on-court fortunes of the Cardinals hold little weight in dangerous times.) Anyway, the look was captured while the television legend was on vacation in St. Barts. The yellow running shorts really tie the ensemble together, but the Walkman-style headphones are a strong touch too.

This wild Kris Kringle-type look (we approve) is generating a lot of attention and serves as a big change from the on-camera style we’ve come to expect from the man, but the beard’s definitely not a 100 percent new edition. Letterman’s been spotted rocking a beard for months now. Heck, he even commented on it in Montana’s Whitefish Review. On the off-chance you’re not a regular reader of the publication, here was Letterman’s take on leaning in hard on facial hair.

You know what? I used to say, every day, “I am so sick and tired of shaving.” I had to shave every day, every day, for 33 years. And even before that when I was working on local TV. And I just thought, the first thing I will do when I am not on TV is stop shaving. And everybody hates it. My wife hates it. My son hates it. But it’s interesting. I’ve kind of developed a real creepy look with it that I’m sort of enjoying. And I can tell that people are off-put by it. And the more people implore me to shave, the stronger my resolve is to not shave. So the day that I shave, I’ll call you.

Let that beard grow, Dave. You’ve earned it and you’re welcome to have “a real creepy look” as much as you like. Maybe Leno will counter with a white dude Fu Manchu.

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