Steve Burns, the beloved original host of Blue’s Clues, is reaching out to his now-adult audience with a brand-new podcast called Alive With Steve Burns.
In a chat with Today’s Savannah Sellers, Burns revealed that the inspiration came after his emotional 2021 viral video, where he reconnected with fans who grew up watching him.
“We started out with clues, and now it’s what? Student loans and jobs and families,” he said back then. “I guess I just wanted to say that after all these years: I never forgot you, ever.”
Now 51, Burns explained the heart of his podcast: “People need to feel seen. The vibe is really more curious than prescriptive. I’m not giving answers, it’s just scaling what we always used to do.”
This time, instead of teaching shapes and colors, he’s tackling the tougher conversations—everything from debt and sex to taxes and the future of truth.
Burns, who shot to stardom at just 22 when Blue’s Clues premiered on Nickelodeon in 1996, reflected on how he’s learned to embrace the on-screen version of himself that became a cultural icon.
“There was identity tension for a long time. I felt like I was miscast from the get,” he admitted. “I didn’t know how to accommodate him until the viral video. I just was suddenly a Steve conflation. And in that moment I kind of put my arm around him and I was like, ‘Oh, I love this guy.’”
Fans tuning into the YouTube version of his new podcast may notice some nostalgic throwbacks.
“They gave me the original [Handy Dandy] notebook among my most treasured possessions,” Burns revealed. “They gave me the original [Thinking Chair], and that usually holds dirty laundry.”
After leaving Blue’s Clues in 2002 during its fourth season, Burns was succeeded by Donovan Patton as Joe. His quiet exit fueled wild rumors, with false claims circulating online that he’d died from a drug overdose or car accident.
“Everyone thought I was dead for a while,” he told The New York Times in 2024. “That hurt, to be honest. And it kind of messed me up because that was happening while the internet was just sort of beginning to internet. No one, including myself, was kind of prepared for the degree of consensus that it represented.
“When a zillion, trillion people all think you’re dead for 15 years, it freaks you out,” he added.
Alive With Steve Burns officially premieres on Sept. 17.
