On Wednesday night’s Report, Stephen Colbert made us love “Apparently” Kid even more by taking the phenomenon to its logical conclusion and making the case that the boy who had never been on live television before is already a better journalist than Sean Hannity.
Well in an interview with TV Newser yesterday, the segment was brought to Hannity’s attention, and he responded in an endearingly self-deprecating manner that has me re-thinking all my previous thoughts on Sean Hannity. Just kidding, he was a massive blowhard:
TVNewser: I don’t know if you saw it, but Stephen Colbert had some fun with your liberal use of the word “literally” during your coverage. How do you handle that when the late night comics dissect your performance?
Hannity: Look Stephen Colbert… I understand that people have their job to do. First of all, he’s not as funny as Jon Stewart. Stephen Colbert will have the lowest-rated late night show. There are issues that just aren’t funny. Terrorism isn’t funny. I didn’t see the bit. I won’t see it. I don’t care.
Maybe Stephen Colbert needs to come over here and get a dose of reality. He sits in the comfort of his studio, reading jokes written for him by 30 writers. So, I have a challenge for Stephen Colbert: I’ll pay for your flight. I’ll pay for your hotel, your meals. Then you sit on the border. You talk to the people. You sit across from the mother of an Israeli solider who was killed, and then make a joke about it.
Of course — as the interviewer noted — the only thing Colbert was making jokes about was Hannity’s “liberal use of the word ‘literally'” and how it makes him a clown of a newsman, but that didn’t keep the Fox News anchor from asserting a “DON’T JOKE ABOUT WAR” stance. Hard to say whether Colbert will take the bait but if he does I think it’s safe to assume the irony of who reality is lost on won’t be, um, lost on him. It’s probably also safe to assume his retort will be a bit more eloquent.
