“But he had a wicked sense of humor.

Alan Colmes, who for 12 years was a mild-mannered and moderately liberal sparring partner to the conservative firebrand Sean Hannity in Fox News Channel’s most conspicuous effort to fulfill its “fair and balanced” credo, died on Thursday in Manhattan.

If there was one thing about the former stand-up comedian that Hannity loved was, of course, his sense of humor. He was the guy you wanted to hang out with. I know people remember us for our political differences, but our personal differences did not exist. “I hope this answers, once and for all, why his name comes first in the title of our show.”). “I can’t tell you how many of my conservative friends that have been on the show with Alan for years, he was our favorite liberal — the nicest liberal. Newsday. “Even though we had political disagreements, how could you not love Alan?” Hannity says.

He was the real deal.

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All rights reserved. “We live in one of the freest nations on earth, and that, in and of itself, makes you a liberal.”. “Sorry if that makes certain heads explode, but this ain’t Iran,” he wrote. var currentYear = new Date().getFullYear(); Alan Colmes, the feisty liberal foil to conservative Sean Hannity, half of one of the most successful programs in Fox News Channel’s history, died Thursday morning.

Mr. Colmes, a Brooklyn-born grandson of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, worked in radio and as a stand-up comic before Fox News recruited him. “He was thinking about her. What we did on the air was real, but when the show ended, we put all that aside, and we could do that because of his fundamental decency.”, “Alan always held his own,” Mr. Hannity said. Though the details surrounding Colmes’ illness have not been released, Hannity says that when the radio and television host first learned of his health issues, Colmes’ first thought was to shield his wife, Jocelyn Crowley. Speaking with PEOPLE, the Fox News Channel host opened up about the loss of his colleague and close friend, who died at the age of 66 after battling a brief illness. In his 2012 book, “Thank the Liberals for Saving America,” Mr. Colmes argued that “almost every American holds many liberal views,” and that “conservatives have many more of them” than they admit. We built the show together, and we were both really proud of it.”, “The thing that most people never understood about us,” he added, “is, we had political differences, but were best friends.

He loved his wife, he adored her," Sean Hannity tells PEOPLE of of late Fox News co-anchor Alan Colmes, who death at the age of 66 was announced Thursday. He accomplished a lot more than anybody would have ever expected. I got Barack Obama elected.’”, Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity’s Liberal Partner on Fox News, Dies at 66. Alan Colmes conducting an interview in 2004 after a presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis. Yahoo News • February 23, 2017 Fox News host Sean Hannity paid tribute to his longtime friend and colleague Alan Colmes on Thursday after the liberal commentator’s death … He was 66.

He landed a drive-time slot on WABC radio in 1984 — he was billed as W. Alan B. Colmes, to match the station’s call letters — and switched three years later to WNBC. Coyote Ugly Turns 20: Where Is the Cast Now? In addition to his wife, he is survived by a sister, Susan Colmes Braitman. Fox News’ Sean Hannity is grieving the loss of his colleague and dear friend, Alan Colmes. He grew up listening to the late-night radio hosts Long John Nebel and Barry Gray, graduated from Lynbrook High School on Long Island, attended Ithaca College and graduated from Hofstra University. After “Hannity & Colmes,” Mr. Colmes — whose books also included “Red, White & Liberal: How Left Is Right and Right Is Wrong” (2003) — appeared on Fox as a guest commentator; was the host of “The Alan Colmes Show,” syndicated by Fox News; ran the Liberaland blog; and contributed to AOL News.

NEW YORK — Alan Colmes, the radio and television host and commentator best known as the amiable liberal foil to the conservative Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel, has died.