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. “I hope this answers, once and for all, why his name comes first in the title of our show.”)

“Hannity & Colmes” was born in October 1996 and remained on the air nightly until January 2009.

The two men were billed as co-hosts, and Mr. Ailes insisted that producers deploy a stopwatch to make sure they received equal time. But many liberal critics considered the pairing lopsided. Some characterized Mr. Colmes as a punching bag and even a sacrificial lamb who was neutralized by the considerably more combative Mr. Hannity.

Al Franken, the comedian who went on to become a United States senator, described Mr. Colmes in his book “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right” (2003) as “a moderate milquetoast.” The media watchdog organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting harrumphed, “If the Harlem Globetrotters have the Washington Generals as their nightly fall guys, Sean Hannity has Alan Colmes.”

Mr. Colmes said he preferred to be in the minority among Fox’s stable of mostly conservative commentators rather than just another voice preaching to the liberal choir, though he sometimes described himself as a moderate, at least in demeanor.