The Mid-Life Crisis Beard? We're concerned about you, Jon

Uh oh. Jon Stewart's new facial hair, which he debuted on the Daily Show, looks suspiciously like some one else's mouth frame. HINT:



As a fan of Jon, I trust his judgment. But this new beard is setting off alarm bells. For the first time in his wildly-supported career, he's fending off allegations of sexism. He's also 47, an age when many a man feels the initial thrill of marriage, kids and career wane. Cue crazy facial hair.

Now this is sheer speculation but when a guy grows a bizarre beard out of nowhere, it can be a cry for help. Remember when middle-aged guys would buy a fancy car or a moped as an expression of freaking out? Now they just grab attention with their face, fawning over each pore like they were waxing a Corvette.

Think about it: they're spending a lot of time in front of the bathroom mirror, they're examining the lines in their face, they're testing the boundaries of their identity. "Maybe I could rock a pirate look," they think after reading an article about Johnny Depp. Or maybe "I could pull off a Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart thing," in the case of Stewart. Hey, if I could toy with my own facial hair, and still have the opportunity for sex, I'd do it too. Especially when I was feeling like things were out of control.

Consider a few recent examples of celebrities who grew their facial hair and lost their s***. Seriously, it's a thing.