Merry Christmas! In advance of his appearance at this week’s series of David Bowie tribute concerts, Michael Stipe visited The Tonight Show on Tuesday to perform a haunting rendition of Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World,” a song that’s seen some other notable covers over the years. The real star, though, was Stipe’s gigantic retirement beard, which gave the former R.E.M. frontman the air of a Prospero at a well-regarded regional Shakespeare festival. It must have started to grow a long, long time ago.