Fox News' Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes often sparred over their disagreements in politics, but Hannity on Thursday said he feels "like a part of me left today" when he learned the news of his close friend and former talk-show partner's death.
"It has been a really tough day," Hannity told Fox News' Bill Hemmer during the "America's Newsroom" program. "I first want to say, you know, his wife, (Jocelyn Crowley), he loved her. He loved Monica (Crowley, his sister-in-law and Fox News star). By the way, he loved everybody."
Colmes had hosted the nationally syndicated talk-radio show "The Alan Colmes Show" for years before being hired to co-host "Hannity & Colmes" opposite Hannity, with the sparring liberal and conservative talkers beginning their partnership in October 1996 when Fox News Channel launched.
Colmes left the show in 2008, while continuing to make appearances on the network, and Hannity said on Thursday his late partner will be missed.
"What's really, really amazing is Alan and I every day, when we first got hired by Fox, neither one of us had a lot of TV experience," Hannity said. "Every day we would sit around and look at each other and say, 'We're the two luckiest guys on the face of this Earth.'"
While many remember the dueling duo for their political disagreements, the public may not know Colmes "was just not only a guy with the greatest sense of humor, but a guy that had a human level of decency and love and kindness," Hannity said.
"He was one of the funniest guys I ever met," Hannity continued. "He started his career as a stand-up comic. He was the radio man, a passion for a microphone. We had a deep, abiding friendship. It was never personal when we disagreed, ever."
Hannity said Colmes' office was next to his up until Thursday and they continued to talk on a regular basis.
"When he first got sick, and I don't want to get too detailed into what had happened, he came in my office," Hannity said. "We had a long, really deep personal chat. We talked about our deep friendship. We talked about our blessed we were. We talked about what good friends we had. And the one thing — this I think captures Alan — he said, 'What I'm most worried about is Jocelyn . . . she is going to take this harder than me.'"
"When I say he worshiped, idolized and adored his wife, I know because he told me," Hannity continued. "He would often use the phrase, 'She is my soul mate,' and I know that this has been a very difficult time for him and for Monica and for the whole family."
Hannity said he wanted viewers to know that Colmes was a "good man with a great, huge heart," and said he has a "hole in my heart today" over the death.
"I'm just devastated, and I have known that this is coming for some time, to be honest," Hannity said. "I was hoping and praying for a miracle."
Colmes was also "civil and kind" in a time of "great incivility," Hannity said, and he was the "staunchest supporter of freedom of speech."
Also, while there is a "lot of infighting in television, everybody loved Alan," Hannity said. "Everybody liked and respected him and everybody knew he was funny and nice and kind and you know what? The world is a little darker place today because a really great human being left us."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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