Stephen Colbert was being honored at an event last night, but it was the comedian’s brand new beard that took center stage.
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“This is my ‘time off’ look,” Colbert told reporters at the US-Ireland Alliance Oscar Wilde Awards held at JJ Abrams’s production company in Santa Monica. “I was curious what I actually looked like and it turns out it’s this.” And he wasn’t the only one who was surprised by his transformation. “My wife [Evelyn] has gotten used to it now. At first she wasn’t sure who this man in bed with her was.”
As for his thoughts on his new look, Colbert defers to his wife for style advice. “She likes it okay so I’m okay with it.” But has the beard been there all along and we’ve just never realized it?
“My show ended two months ago and technically for the record I’m not in character, this is me right now and you know it turns out and a lot of people didn’t know this, the real Stephen Colbert had a beard the whole time,” he teased during his acceptance speech. “I was just so deeply in character for ten years you never noticed. That’s how good of an actor I am.”
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Colbert may be lax on his shaving routine at the moment but that’s because he knows he will be in for a lot of work once he starts prepping for his highly anticipated return to television as the host of The Late Show on September 8th after David Letterman steps down. So for right now, he’s trying to take things easy.
“I’m just really working on my hygiene and driving my boys back and forth to school. That’s all I’m working on right now,” Colbert said.
While fans are bursting with excitement over Letterman passing the baton to Colbert, he isn’t too happy that shortly after his return to TV, his former colleague, Jon Stewart, will be leaving The Daily Show.
“I am in denial like most people that he’s ever going to leave,” Colbert admitted. And once the reality of the situation sets in, he’s conjured up a plan to remedy the situation. “I’m going to kidnap him and put him in my basement and make him read the news to me,” he joked.
Do you love his beard? Should he keep it for his next desk gig? Weigh in!
–Abby Stern
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