Retired Letterman enjoys reaction to his beard

NEW YORK (AP) - David Letterman seems to be enjoying the reaction to his long, white beard.

Upon his retirement from television last May, the former "Late Show" host took advantage of the opportunity to quit shaving, and the impressively bushy result has been on display in the few public appearances he's made.

"Everybody hates it," Letterman conceded in an interview with the Whitefish Review, a literary journal based in Montana, where he has a home.

"My wife hates it," he said. "My son hates it. But it's interesting. I've kind of developed a real creepy look with it that I'm sort of enjoying. And I can tell that people are off-put by it. And the more people implore me to shave, the stronger my resolve is not to shave."

Letterman said he braced himself for some sort of emotional reaction when Stephen Colbert took over his old job, but it never came.

His biggest goal now: making his 12-year-old son laugh.