'Blues Clues' Original Host Leaves Stephen Colbert a Weeping Mess on 'The Late Show'

By Brenda Alexander

It's been nearly 20 years since Steve Burns from Nickelodeon's beloved Blue's Clues has been on the scene. But this week, he surprised fans by taking over the network's Twitter account with his signature striped shirt in tow in a video. "I'm super glad we're still friends," Burns said while standing in front of the classic screen. 

He continued: "I mean, we started out with clues, and now, it's what? Student loans and jobs and families? And some of it has been kind of hard, you know? I know you know. I wanted to tell you that I really couldn't have done all of that without your help...I guess I just wanted to say that after all these years, I never forgot you, ever."

Days later, he stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to give Colbert a hug. Both triggered all the mushy feelings from viewers, and even Colbert. While Burns hasn't been on Nickelodeon, he passed the baton to his character's younger brother Joe (Donovan Patton) in 2002 amid his exit from the show. Burton later revealed that he tried to pursue a career in another realm of entertainment.

"People think I left the show to pursue a music career. That didn't happen at all," he said in a 2006 interview with The Huffington Post. "I left the show because it was just simply time to go. I was pretty much playing a boyish, older-brotherish kind of character on the show. I was getting older; I was losing my hair; a lot of the original gangsters on the show, like the people who created it, were all moving on to other careers. It just felt like time. I just had a gut feeling like it was time to go."

Burton is now a producer for Blue's Clues & You! and continued consulting on Blue's Clues, assisting the casting department to hire Joshua Dela Cruz, who plays Steve and Joe's cousin on the show. Social media users also can't get enough of seeing Burns after so long.

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