Blue Clues Turns 20 This Year: Here's What Steve Is Up to

Publish Date
Friday, 9 September 2016, 2:23PM

Guess, what! It's the 20th anniversary of Blues Clues.

Indeed, on this very day 20 years ago, a friendly cartoon dog named Blue and her affable human best friend Steve made their television debut of Nickelodeon.

Blue's Clues

It was the green striped shirt-wearing, 23-year-old guy named Steve who really made the magic happen—right up until 2002.

In an episode called "Steve Goes to College," Steve introduced viewers to his brother Joe (played by actor Donovan Patton). Joe, Steve said, would be taking over things at the Blue's Clues house. Even though it was a sensible explanation, it didn't sit well with the public.

Rumours spread about Steve and his departure. Gossip had kids fearing he had died IRL and people were subject to all kinds of hoaxes about Steve's untimely death.

Steve Burns (the actor) felt it was important he cleared things up. He appeared on NBC's Today Show as well as The Rosie O'Donnell Show to reassure parents he hadn't died of a heroin overdose and let kids know all was A-OK with their problem-solving pal.

Steve passed along his Handy Dandy Notebook to Joe so he could pursue a career in music. He released his first album, Songs for Dustmites, shortly after his Blue's Clues departure. He went on to collaborate with several artists from The Flaming Lips and later started a band, Steve Burns and the Struggle. His second album was released in 2009.

The now 42-year-old entertainer has acted in a handful of indie films and smaller projects since his Blue's Clues days. He lives in Brooklyn these days and is quite a social media presence. He regularly jokes about the seemingly never-ending rumors of his early demise on Twitter, too.

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