David Letterman Calls The Late Show Irrelevant, Admits His Long Beard Is "Creepy" but He Won't Shave

Former host says, "I don’t think I care that much about television anymore"

David Letterman has moved on from The Late Show in every way.

Now that Stephen Colbert has taken over as host for the famous late-night show, Letterman is focusing on enjoying his retirement by spending time with family and letting his facial hair grow out into an epically long beard. Many have joked that the former host is slowly transitioning into Santa Claus, but Letterman is now acknowledging the bizarreness of his new look in an interview with Whitefish Review.

"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," he explains. "But it's interesting. I've kind of developed a real creepy look with it that I'm sort of enjoying."

Even though people think he's "creepy," he's not going to change his ways. "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."

Because he hosted The Late Show for more than 30 years, Letterman thought he'd become very emotional upon seeing Colbert in his seat. It turns out, it wasn't as eye-opening as he expected. "I thought I would have some trouble, some emotional trouble, or some feeling of displacement, but I realized, hey, that's not my problem anymore. And I have felt much better," he says.

"It's something for younger men and women to take on. So I haven't missed it, the way I thought I might." 

Looking back on his more than three-decade long career, Letterman says he has realized that his work in TV is probably irrelevant. "And because of this introspection, you believe that what you are doing is of great importance and that it is affecting mankind wall-to-wall. And then when you get out of it you realize, oh, well, that wasn't true at all," he says, laughing.

"It was just silliness. And when that occurred to me, I felt so much better and I realized, geez, I don't think I care that much about television anymore. I feel foolish for having been misguided by my own ego for so many years."

Did his ego start a feud with Jay Leno? Watch the video to find out.