The World Beard and Moustache Championships are held at a different site once every two years since 1995. The actual history of the event goes back a bit further, but that was the beginning of the present pattern of events. In the small world of competitive bearding the WBMC is, as the name would suggest, the "main event". Hairy faces travel from numerous countries to compete, share their love of facial hair, and drink lots of beer.
Anyway, in 2005, as the US was beginning to make a splash in the WBMC, a film crew followed the leading American figures in the community on their trip to compete in Berlin. The resulting half-hour documentary "Splitting Hairs" is, in my opinion, an interesting look into a fascinating cultural niche. Fortunately, the film can be found for free on Hulu right here.
Have you seen Dinner for Schmucks? A major plot point (and the source of the title) is about a dinner where people attending are supposed to bring a guest. That guest is supposed to be a "schmuck" or whatever, somebody who's weird and funny, for example, a pet psychic or a blind guy who thinks he's an expert swordsman but obviously isn't. One of the people brought in was a beard champion. And that's what made me think of this.
ReplyDeleteI saw a few commercials for it a little while back, but no, I haven't watched it yet. Running an image search, though, shows me that the movie beard was probably based on Willi Chevalier.
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