Strike Beard War! The Fur Flies

The late night wars are back on-- and things are getting hairy.

For a few weeks now, Conan O'Brien has been sporting a Strike Beard. He's showed off his manliness in a couple of videos on Latenightunderground.com.

Then on Friday, the stakes got higher.

The New York Post published a picture of latenight dean David Letterman sporting a full-on face forest. Harry's dad was suddenly hairy. ("He looks like Santa," one wag observed of Dave).

Instantly, late night anthropologist sprung into action to try to decipher the motive behind Letterman's Strike Beard.

Could it be that Letterman was trying to send a message to his soon-to-be timeslot rival? Was Dave's revelation of this thick, flowing fur meant to signal to O'Brien that there was only room for one Alpha Host?  Was this all a signal of what was to come in 2009, when O'Brien is slated to begin squaring off against Dave? Or had reporters covering Stike 2007 finally run out of story ideas?

For now, neither host is talking about his Strike Beard. Or whether they'll keep the look if, as expected, they return to the air next month.

--Josef Adalian