Meet Jim Carrey's Mask, 2017 edition: His bushy beard

Jim Carrey has entertained millions as a man of many faces, including In Living Color's Fire Marshall Bill, Ace Ventura, the Mask and the Grinch.

His latest face is his face, or at least the lower part of it, home to a bushy beard: "It becomes a character," he tells USA TODAY, responding to a question about the impressive facial hair.

At the end of an interview about his standup career and its connection to his new Showtime series about L.A. comics in the '70s, I'm Dying Up Here, Carrey is asked why he grew the non-movie-related beard, which features a fair amount of gray.

"No decision to be made there. You just stop shaving," he explains regarding the full beard, which took six months to grow and has him rivaling David Letterman in the celebrity mountain-man look.

Speaking of Letterman, the Dying executive producer has a story from the host's 2015 goodbye, when Carrey also was sporting facial hair.

Bill Murray asked about it, Carrey says, He told his fellow actor his beard "doesn't mean anything." Murray paused, then offered an airy, zen-like reponse: "Shaving's hard."

Carrey, who's "not part of any scene" right now and sometimes "just disappear(s) from what I'm supposed to be doing," says he is considering some scripts, but won't give out any details.

So, whether a new role claims the beard remains to be seen, although it sounds as if its fate may come down to the actor-comedian's mood on a given day.

"I could shave it tomorrow or I could let it go for the next 10 years," says Carrey, who attended a Wednesday Dying screening in Los Angeles in advance of Sunday's Showtime premiere. "We should start some odds in Vegas, how long the beard lasts."