Sean Hannity is upset that Stephen Colbert likened him to 5-year-old viral 'newsman'

Sean Hannity is upset that Stephen Colbert likened him to 5-year-old viral &#039;newsman&#039;

(Image credit: Chris McKay/Getty Images; collage)

last updated 8 January 2015

Apparently, Sean Hannity doesn't think Stephen Colbert is very funny. On Wednesday night's Colbert Report, Colbert got in on all the excitement over Noah Ritter, the Pennsylvania 5-year-old who swept the internet this week with his self-assured debut on live TV and his constant use of the word "apparently."

Colbert picked up on this verbal tic of this pint-sized "natural-born newsman," compared it to Hannity's repetition of the word "literally" in a recent report from Israel, then quipped: "Apparently, that 5-year-old child could replace Sean Hannity." TV Newser's Chris Ariens asked Hannity about the dig in an interview, and this is what Hannity had to say:

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. [Hannity, to TV Newser]

Hannity went to to offer Colbert a plane ticket and lodging in Israel if he'd go to the Israel-Gaza border, talk to Israelis, "sit across from the mother of an Israeli solider who was killed, and then make a joke about it." Is Hannity's pushback justified? Well, we report, you... know the rest. Watch Colbert's segment below (hat-tips to TalkingPointsMemo and Mediaite). --Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.