# Male celebrities who look funny without facial hair **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917 "2015-02-05T19:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/21 "2015-02-06T01:30:18Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Ringo Starr has always looked less goofy when he has a beard and/or moustache. So did George. (Well…George wasn’t so much ‘goofy’, as ‘awkward’, but still…both of them benefited from facial hair.) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/22 "2015-02-06T02:13:57Z")
Tom Selleck looks strange without the porn-star stache. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/23 "2015-02-06T02:36:11Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Richard Armitage looks way the hell better with a beard than without. He ought to make that a permanent fixture. > > [With](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02949/armitageportrait_2949754b.jpg) > > [Without](http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2014/295/6/8/richard_armitage___hugh_jackman_by_thatnordicguy-d83sl5u.jpg) I couldn’t disagree more. The second picture is my idea of a perfect human male face. Oh my. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/24 "2015-02-06T04:26:44Z")
For a long time, I didn’t recognize James Brolin without his Hotel-era beard. Alex Trebek still looks wrong. As a child in the 1980s, I recognized the Beatles (as a vintage rock band) and I recognized Ringo Starr (goofy bearded fellow from Caveman and various ads). I didn’t realize they were the same guy for a long time. There were also people that seemed to take on different personas with beards, like Robin Williams (serious dramatic actor with the beard, comic without) or John Ritter (more “adult” racy material with beard, sitcom/family man without). ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/25 "2015-02-06T04:29:57Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Ringo Starr has always looked less goofy when he has a beard and/or moustache. > > Paul, by contrast, looked a lot goofier WITH facial hair. Paul looked great with a little stubble, like in the Rishikesh/White Album era, but with the full “Let it Be” beard, like a leprechaun, and with the Sgt. Pepper or mid-70s mustache - like an English snooker champion. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/26 "2015-02-06T09:14:46Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Start with Gabby Hayes or Al “Fuzzy” St. John if you can’t think of newer ones! 🙂 Speaking of Hayes, I can’t find a picture of Isaac Hayes without a beard. I don’t think he’d look right. Also, George Carlin. I think age is a factor; in the [beardless](http://gentlemint.com/media/images/2013/04/10/e672cbf4.png.505x650_q85.jpg) pictures he’s very young. ---
**Author:** ![ebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@ebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ebb)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/27 "2015-02-06T18:33:40Z")
With his beard, Ryan Hurst looks like a [bad-ass biker gang member](http://www.jackguy.com/data/photos/384_1ryan_hurst_1.jpg). Without his beard, Ryan Hurst looks like [a guy who’s confused about how the soft-serve ice cream machine works, but he’d be happy to go get the manager for you](http://www.incine.fr/media/photos_persos/big/Ryan-hurst-perso_134326_1290521782.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/28 "2015-02-06T20:37:08Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > [Ernest Borgnine.](http://www.cinemagraphe.com/_movies/the-vikings-1958/borgnine-as-chief-viking-1958.jpg) > > With a beard he’s actually kind of ruggedly good-looking. Too bad for him they weren’t in fashion. Huh. Looks a little like Oliver Reed. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/29 "2015-02-06T20:47:19Z")
Robert E. Lee. We’re used to thinking of him as grey-haired and bearded. But the Civil War aged him. Here’s a [picture](https://drtlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/sc08154wtmk1.jpg) of him in 1861 - with moustache but without beard. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/30 "2015-02-06T20:47:32Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Ringo Starr has always looked less goofy when he has a beard and/or moustache. > Paul, by contrast, looked a lot goofier WITH facial hair. > [@Chefguy](#): > > Alex Trebek > Jeffrey Tambor Agreed. > [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > So did George. (Well…George wasn’t so much ‘goofy’, as ‘awkward’, but still…both of them benefited from facial hair.) I always thought George was handsome when cleanshaven. With a beard he looked like (quoting a long-dead Irish friend of mine) “a bloody goat peering through a hedge.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/31 "2015-02-06T20:49:59Z")
> [@syncrolecyne](#): > > …There were also people that seemed to take on different personas with beards, like Robin Williams (serious dramatic actor with the beard, comic without) or John Ritter (more “adult” racy material with beard, sitcom/family man without). Kevin Kline. From NPR, July 24, 2010: _"…Indeed, Kline’s tendency to experiment with different kinds of beards and moustaches has led film critic Roger Ebert to concoct the Kevin Kline Moustache Principle, which states that you can guess what kind of film the actor’s working on by looking at his chin — he tends to have facial hair in comedies, but stays clean shaven in dramatic roles. Kline says Ebert is right — to a certain extent. “I’ve heard about that theory, and I think he’s admitted that there are exceptions,” he says, pointing to a production of King Lear in which he had “quite a bit of facial hair.”_ ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/32 "2015-02-06T22:01:02Z")
> [@syncrolecyne](#): > > There were also people that seemed to take on different personas with beards, like Robin Williams (serious dramatic actor with the beard, comic without) or John Ritter (more “adult” racy material with beard, sitcom/family man without). I think Jeffrey Tambor (already mentioned upthread by Chefguy) also falls into this category. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/33 "2015-02-06T22:05:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Robert E. Lee. We’re used to thinking of him as grey-haired and bearded. But the Civil War aged him. Here’s a [picture](https://drtlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/sc08154wtmk1.jpg) of him in 1861 - with moustache but without beard. I’d never seen that picture. But even with darker hair and no beard, he projects dignity and competence to me. He LOOKS like a great general, whether he was one or not. He LOOKS like a man soldiers would gladly follow. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/34 "2015-02-06T22:12:58Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Zach Galifianakis > > [https://www.google.com/search?q=zach+galifianakis&biw=1366&bih=622&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=DcrTVKulCcLXgwTvl4CgDw&ved=0CAYQ\_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=zach+galifianakis&imgdii=\_&imgrc=m6nPVyYPIKZTVM%253A%3BQIo9\_ZPSSe6mSM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcontent7.flixster.com%252Frtactor%252F42%252F20%252F42205\_pro.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.rottentomatoes.com%252Fcelebrity%252Fzach\_galifianakis%252F%3B280%3B250](https://www.google.com/search?q=zach+galifianakis&biw=1366&bih=622&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=DcrTVKulCcLXgwTvl4CgDw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=zach+galifianakis&imgdii=_&imgrc=m6nPVyYPIKZTVM%253A%3BQIo9_ZPSSe6mSM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcontent7.flixster.com%252Frtactor%252F42%252F20%252F42205_pro.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.rottentomatoes.com%252Fcelebrity%252Fzach_galifianakis%252F%3B280%3B250) > > [https://www.google.com/search?q=zach+galifianakis&biw=1366&bih=622&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=DcrTVKulCcLXgwTvl4CgDw&ved=0CAYQ\_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=zach+galifianakis+clean+shaven&imgdii=\_&imgrc=a-4MgsoxCEmkFM%253A%3BrwzfbHkaedxxpM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fi.imgur.com%252Fz8VxE.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fimgur.com%252Fgallery%252Fz8VxE%3B600%3B399](https://www.google.com/search?q=zach+galifianakis&biw=1366&bih=622&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=DcrTVKulCcLXgwTvl4CgDw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=zach+galifianakis+clean+shaven&imgdii=_&imgrc=a-4MgsoxCEmkFM%253A%3BrwzfbHkaedxxpM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fi.imgur.com%252Fz8VxE.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fimgur.com%252Fgallery%252Fz8VxE%3B600%3B399) > > Couldn’t get my first link to work for some reason so somebody can fix it or google it, but anyway he just seems so somber without the beard but some of it is probably also attributable to his weight loss. Normally I’m always pro-beard, but those pictures don’t look funny at all to me. Different, yes, but not weird or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/35 "2015-02-06T23:27:34Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’d never seen that picture. But even with darker hair and no beard, he projects dignity and competence to me. He LOOKS like a great general, whether he was one or not. He LOOKS like a man soldiers would gladly follow. But he had to grow a beard. It was the rule during the Civil War. The good generals had beards and the bad generals did not. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/36 "2015-02-07T00:30:39Z")
> [@ebb](#): > > With his beard, Ryan Hurst looks like a [bad-ass biker gang member](http://www.jackguy.com/data/photos/384_1ryan_hurst_1.jpg). > > Without his beard, Ryan Hurst looks like [a guy who’s confused about how the soft-serve ice cream machine works, but he’d be happy to go get the manager for you](http://www.incine.fr/media/photos_persos/big/Ryan-hurst-perso_134326_1290521782.jpg). Oh my word. Thread over. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/37 "2015-02-07T00:52:44Z")
I always thought Rowan Atkinson looked really sexy in Blackadder II, [with his beard](https://thiswastv.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/edmund_lord_blackadder.png). [OK otherwise](http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTg3NDUzOTc3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjcxMDkxNw@@._V1_SY317_CR0,0,214,317_AL_.jpg), occasionally goofy looking, but oh, [that beard](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/BA2adder.jpg)! ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/38 "2015-02-07T01:50:21Z")
With a moustache, Nick Offerman is [Ron Swanson](http://blog.heartland.org/2011/10/ron-swanson-explains-locke-economics-and-being-a-libertarian-to-a-4th-grader/), a man’s man who does his shopping at Food-n-Stuff and makes fine wood chairs and harps. With no moustache, he looks like [this](https://i.imgur.com/eOkVZ.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/39 "2015-02-07T03:04:14Z")
Not quite a celebrity, but Paul Allen appears in public from time to time, and yes, he looked a lot better with a big nerd-beard. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917/40 "2015-02-07T07:15:39Z")
Charles Darwin: [With](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HIW2PS1578Q/ULLGyXkzt7I/AAAAAAAABDU/zfhc7VXF5us/s1600/Charles-Darwin!.jpeg) and [without](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Charles_Darwin.jpg). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-celebrities-who-look-funny-without-facial-hair/711917.md?page=3)