We never forgot about you too, Steve!
Time surely flew, and before we knew it, Blue’s Clues has turned 25 and has gone through three trusty companions for its clue-spotting canine, Blue. To mark the occasion, Nickelodeon brought all three of the show’s hosts together for a series of fun snaps, but none of us were truly emotionally prepared for what Steve, the original host of the show’s first four seasons, had in store for us.
Portrayed by Steve Burns, Steve had to leave by the end of Blue’s Clues’ fourth season and turned over the pen, the notebook, and the striped sweater style to his on-screen brother, Joe. With his backpack in tow, he thanked us for all our help, and just walked out the door, never setting foot inside Blue’s cut-out house again.
Albeit abrupt, we never really thought much about Steve’s departure as kids. That’s why Steve’s two-minute heartfelt speech served as the closure we all needed now as adults.
“Hi, you got a second?” said Steve, who once again wore his signature striped green sweater. “You remember how when we were younger we used to run around and hang out with Blue and find clues and talk to Mr. Salt and freak out about the mail and do all the fun stuff and then one day I was like, ‘Oh hey, guess what? Big news… I’m leaving. This is my brother Joe, he’s your new best friend’ and then I got on a bus and I left, and we didn’t see each other for like a really long time.”
“I realize that was kind of abrupt,” the OG host admitted. “I just kinda got up and went to college.”
Steve then went on to explain how leaving was a challenge to use his mind and take a step at a time. Now, as a grown-up, he’s getting to do many of the things that he always wanted to do.
“And then look at you. Look at all you have done and all you have accomplished in all that time. And it’s just… it’s just so amazing, right? I mean, we started out with clues and now it’s what? Student loans, and jobs, and families, and some of that has been kind of hard, you know? I know you know.”
Even after all these years, Steve also wanted to let everybody know that the help you gave him when you were young is still lending him a hand today, which, in his words, is “super cool.”
“I guess I just wanted to say that after all these years I never forgot you. Ever. And I’m super glad we’re still friends.”
Steve even managed to squeeze in a compliment to end his message: “You look great by the way. Whatever it is you’re doing, it’s working.”
As expected, the loyal fans whom Steved addressed collectively cried as adults and gushed all over social media on Wednesday. From pouring our hearts out over how proud Steve is of us, to Steve saying we look good, we all wanted to say the same thing: we missed Steve.
Burns left Blue’s Clues in 2002 and passed on the post to Donovan Patton, who portrayed Joe until the series’ sixth and final season in 2006. The show was rebooted in 2019 and found its new host in Josh Dela Cruz.
After departing from the kid’s show, Burns, then 26, pursued his musical aspirations and went on to make music. In an interview with MTV in 2016, Steve went on to say that he left the show because “it was just simply time to go.”
