After auditioning prospective co-hosts, Mr. Hannity was said to prefer the affable and witty Mr. Colmes. (“He was hired first and suggested me as a co-host,” Mr. Colmes later recalled. Some characterized Mr. Colmes as a punching bag, even as a sacrificial lamb being neutralized by the considerably more combative Mr. Hannity. Alan Samuel Colmes was born on Sept. 24, 1950, the son of Louis Colmes, an auctioneer, and the former Fay Was. “When we started, neither of us had a lot of TV experience,” Mr. Hannity said in an interview on Thursday.

Source: New York Times February 23, 2017 16:39 UTC