Stephen Colbert is back -- and he's hairier than ever.
The former host of The Colbert Report has been out of the media spotlight since the end of his show in December, but emerged Thursday night to attend the Oscar Wilde Awards.
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Colbert took home the night's top prize, but the real prize went to us -- for Colbert has grown a magnificent beard.
Colbert's surprisingly Santa-like beard is an drastic change from his conservative look as the character "Stephen Colbert." At the event, he admitted to looking forward to getting away from the character, and moving back toward stand-up.
Twitter reaction has been mostly positive, and ladies especially seem to be loving the new rugged Colbeard look.
Hot Colbeard is warming me up a bit tho pic.twitter.com/XOTFAn8O05— Tanya Chen (@Tanya_Chen) February 20, 2015
Excuse me while I spend some time with my feelings about the #Colbeard. http://t.co/iQAftwP5Br pic.twitter.com/4opn8pZDqx— Katie Hegarty (@HegartyKatie) February 20, 2015
But you're way too late if you were thinking about operating a Colbeard parody account.
sorry, folks, but a guy named David Colbear already has the twitter handled #Colbeard— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 20, 2015
And we're all thankful that the Colbeard is well-groomed.
Glad Colbeard didn't look like this. http://t.co/e9xFblyAEB pic.twitter.com/UKiXvtdyGw— Matthew Gilbert (@MatthewGilbert) February 20, 2015