Steve also admitted that he initially dreamed of having a career like Al Pacino, and only became a kids' TV favorite through “desperation.”
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Most millennials can’t think of a better representative of their childhood than Steve Burns, the human presenter of the animated Nickelodeon series Blue’s Clues, which he hosted from its premiere in 1996 until 2002.
Nickelodeon
While all of the people who used to watch Steve on the show are now fully grown adults, he still holds a special place in most's hearts.
However, Steve has now revealed that the face of their childhood was very nearly completely different as he recalled how he beat a more “conventionally handsome” man to the hosting gig.
In a recent interview with NPR, the star also admitted that kids’ TV wasn’t ever his goal — and that he actually went to New York in the hope of emulating the careers of people like Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman.
"I wanted to be a dangerous little short guy actor from the '70s, like Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman," he explained. "You know, that's what I came to New York to do."
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Instead, Steve ended up fighting it out for the role of Blue’s Clues host, telling the publication that network executives weren’t sold on him.
Describing his rival as “conventionally handsome,” a screening was set up for children to choose who was the better presenter.
While the other hopeful played the gig straight, Steve decided to make it “weird.”
"I remember getting way too close to the camera and pausing until it felt weird,” he recalled. “And then I paused a little longer. Right? And really tried to do that listening thing.”
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For reference, the “listening thing” is now a hallmark of the show, with Steve being renowned for the way that he would pause and wait for a response from viewers at home, acting as though he was listening intently to their answers.
According to NPR, during the audition process, Steve sought inspiration from the way that the iconic character Ferris Bueller broke the fourth wall in the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, as well as Grover from Sesame Street.
He went on to admit: “I'd love to say that I was just a forward-thinking and insightful, brilliant actor, but it had nothing to do with anything like that. It was just desperation.”
Nickelodeon
Needless to say, it was Steve’s approach to the show that got the better response from the young focus group, and the rest is history.
And while it wasn’t quite on par with Pacino and Hoffman's careers, Steve admitted that being a part of the show was “so much cooler than you could even imagine.”
The star hosted Blue’s Clues for six years, telling viewers he was leaving “to go to college” when Donovan Patton replaced him in the early ‘00s.
In reality, Steve has since revealed that he was “struggling with severe clinical depression the whole time” he was on the show, which is why he ultimately decided to leave.
Speaking to Variety in 2022, Steve explained: “It was my job to be utterly and completely full of joy and wonder at all times, and that became impossible. I was always able to dig and find something that felt authentic to me that was good enough to be on the show, but after years and years of going to the well without replenishing it, there was a cost."
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Steve started a “long period of healing” when he left Blue's Clues, but his mental health did not become "more manageable" until his father's death in 2015 prompted him to take the healing process more seriously.
And in recent years, the beloved star has returned to the Blue’s Clues universe in a few ways, including appearing in a special Nick Jr. video for the show’s 25th anniversary in 2021 and in Paramount+’s revival series, Blue’s Clues & You!
He has also kept up with his original viewers via social media, with the star sparking an emotional reaction from people when he took to his relatively inactive TikTok page to check in with his 1.8 million followers back in March.
In the video, Steve mimicked the way that he would host Blue’s Clues more than 20 years earlier as he asked: “Hey, I’m checking in. Tell me, what’s going on?” before sitting in silence for almost a minute as he gave followers a safe space to offload their feelings.
TikTok @hioutthereitsmesteve / Via tiktok.com
The timing of this post wasn’t lost on fans, with Steve choosing to check in just days after the harrowing docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV premiered.
Viewers were profoundly impacted by the documentary, which saw several former child stars speak out against their alleged experiences behind the scenes of several popular Nickelodeon shows throughout the late ‘90s and early ‘00s.
People admitted to having “a really tough time” processing what was allegedly going on during the making of some of their most loved childhood series, so when a familiar face from that period of their lives showed up for an impromptu check-in, it didn’t feel like a coincidence.
- Blue's Clues
- Steve Burns
- Family-Friendly
- Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeed Staff
