During Tuesday night's program, "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest joked about Mayor Dan Snarr's facial hair. Seacrest showed a clip from Archuleta's Friday homecoming party at Murray High School. In it, the heavily mustachioed mayor announced the song that judges selected for Archuleta.

"Randy, I think that could be a look - a look for you next season: with a mustache," Seacrest said, twirling the ends of an imaginary handlebar mustache.

That comment spurred several blog posts, radio commentary and even talk around City Hall.

The Murray politico said jabs like those come with the hirsute territory.

"My wife jumped around; I said, 'Well, people - ' " Snarr laughs. "I got a good chuckle out of it. It's controversial; either they love it or hate it."

But Snarr said it's a shame that facial hair would make some people pass judgment on him or his city.

It's not the first time the mayor's appearance raised comments from the "American Idol" crowd. Last month, a YouTube comment criticized Snarr for making Murray look like a "hick town."

"If they don't live in Murray, they don't know what a real town is until they get there," Snarr said. "We're no hick town. I may look like a hick - obviously I consider myself to be a very savvy businessman."

But several blogs have been complimentary of his upper-lip coiffure. In fact, Snarr said, he was featured in the December issue of Esquire, a leading magazine in men's fashion.

"I am who I am," Snarr said. "And I like my mustache."

mariav@sltrib.com

One blogger says

"What's important here is not the song choice, but Mayor Snarr's . . . awesomely long, skinny, and white handlebar moustache. To top it off, he is wearing a flag with a collar and buttons as a shirt. [He] represents every stereotypical trait I could dream up for a middle America mayor."

LAUREN BRILL