Why Larry Charles shaved off his beard.

"'It was time. I think other people's reaction is much more radical than my own. They look at me like the Elephant Man now. They're like, "What happened to you?"... [I]t's ironic that I had to shave my beard to hide myself. I took those things off and people don't know who I am.'... On the other hand, he learned while collaborating with Sacha Baron Cohen on the wildly successful Borat movie how image and influence can go hand in hand. Before that he often looked like 'a dirty, hippy-like homeless person'... One day while directing an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, he went to grab some food and was accosted by a guard. 'He was like throwing me off the set,' he says, laughing. 'The AD (assistant director] had to come over and go, "Wait a minute, that's the director!"'"