Personally, I didn't like seeing this. It kinda makes me think more of how Linus acts as a day to day person instead of an on-screen personality. It makes me wonder what the hell would happen and how I would feel if I was to work for LMG or even just work with Linus as a partner/sponsor.
I'm really, really not seeing this come across as a joke at all. Linus holds a straight face, as well as not making a smirk or just pushing the whole "Aaaaayyyy only joking mate" type of stuff, along with quicky just moving along on the topic. It's not polite. It's not professional and it's certainly not appropriate to say in front of a live audience. It's almost shaming the poor guy, saying someone is better than he is. That's like me saying right to Linus' face "Actually I'm going to watch Austin Evans review and not yours as he does far more better reviews on [product area]". It's not nice, and it makes me look like an asshole.
I really feel for Riley. I've been in the same situation time and time again of constantly being told "No.", and it really gets me down.