WATCH: How Tucker Carlson and Rachel Maddow formed their chummy on-air relationship while working at MSNBC

Tucker Carlson and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC in 2006.
Tucker Carlson and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC in 2006.MSNBC/YouTube
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  • Fox's Tucker Carlson and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow used to be chummy when they worked together on MSNBC.

  • Maddow was a panelist on Carlson's MSNBC show in 2005 called "The Situation with Tucker Carlson."

  • Rachel Maddow recently spoke highly of Carlson, telling Vanity Fair that he's "doing great right now."

Cable news opposites Rachel Maddow and Tucker Carlson have a shared history.

Maddow recently credited Carlson with giving her a foot in the door at MSNBC when she was a panelist on his show "The Situation with Tucker Carlson" from 2005 to 2008. At the time, she was a talk show host on Air America Radio.

"The first show I worked on was his 11 o'clock show on MSNBC that nobody remembers. But he was always kicking around the business and has always been talented. It just — this turned out to be his moment," she said in an interview with Vanity Fair.

According to the New Republic, Carlson's team brought Maddow onto his show in 2005, and he insisted on keeping her around even though "she didn't look like a Fox blonde," a style reportedly preferred by MSNBC's then-president.

When Carlson was later hired at "Fox and Friends" in 2013, Maddow told Salon, "Tucker and I agree on just about nothing, but he has always been kind to me, and a fun person to fight with. I wish him all the best."

Carlson would then go on to host "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Fox News, and Maddow "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC.

Here's a look-back into their time together on-air where they regularly quipped and exchanged laughs amid their fiercest debates.

Carlson said he would 'pay cash' for a video of Maddow and conservative pundit Ann Coulter.

 

In a June 2006 segment on Carlson's show, he and Maddow discussed conservative commentator Ann Coulter and her 2006 book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism."

"It turns out not everyone agrees with Ann Coulter," Carlson said. "Joining us now, someone who most likely falls into that category, Air America radio host Rachel Maddow."

"She's actually an ex-girlfriend of mine. Little known fact," Maddow joked. "So it's a lot—it's very personal. A lot of our disagreements are personal. But I can see her politics, too."

"You got the video, I'll pay cash," Carlson said. "No, excuse me."

They debated gay marriage and joked about banning divorce.

 

 

In another June 2006 segment, they discussed a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

"The euphemism here is the whole idea that gay marriage is somehow more dangerous to marriage than divorce is, right?" Maddow said near the end of the segment.

"Divorce is more dangerous to American life than gay marriage. I agree with that," Carlson said.

"So let's ban divorce and have a principled discussion instead of this political campaign," Maddow said, laughing. "We'll ban divorce, you and I."

Maddow quipped about sending Carlson to Guantanamo Bay.

 

In another segment in September 2006, the pair covered the upcoming congressional elections in November, where Democrats would retake the House in a sweeping victory.

"Great to see you.  What's the first thing apart from nationalizing the railroads and passing the transgender amendment, Democrats are going to do when they take power?" Carlson asked Maddow at the beginning of the show.

"I mean there is a lot to get to right away," Maddow replied. "We have to make everybody get gay married, and we have to ban the Bible, and we have to send you to Guantanamo."

They had a heated debate over high schoolers learning about sexual orientation.

 

"A lot of people don't support gay rights," Carlson said during a May 2006 segment about a class of high schoolers learning about sexual orientation in public school. "It's a contested social issue. That's why teachers have no place pushing one side of it."

"Teachers are not pushing one side of it in this regard," Maddow said. "Tucker, learning about the arguments for gay rights doesn't mean that you are making those arguments, and you're smart enough to know that."

"As long as they give equal time to the arguments against gay rights," Carlson said. "And I'm sure they will. It will be gay bashing next week, right? I don't think so, Rachel."

"This is not an argument for gay rights.  You are hysterical," Maddow said.

The pair debated a threatening speech from Osama bin Laden.

 

Carlson and Maddow discussed a speech from 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, which Carlson said echoed many Democratic talking points.

"I'm saying he's criticizing Bush in exactly the same ways, with exactly the same terminology—it's literally like he got the blast facts from (Democratic) HQ," Carlson said during a January 2006 segment.

"I'm actively angry that this is being turned into a political attack on Democrats," Maddow said. "That is absolutely ridiculous."

Read the original article on Business Insider