Steve Burns, former host of beloved children’s show Blue’s Clues, has announced he is launching a new podcast aimed at adults.
Alive with Steve Burns will be produced by Lemonada Media and is expected to premiere this fall.
Burns hosted Blue’s Clues, an interactive children’s show starring an animated dog from 1996 to 2002. In a video announcing the new podcast, he said he hopes to take a similar approach to tackling adult themes.
“It could basically be what we’ve always done,” said Burns. “It used to be about shapes and colors and letters and numbers and vegetables and stuff, but now it could really be about death, and sex and taxes and everything that makes it so weird and wonderful to be alive.”
Speaking to Variety, Burns added: “There are a thousand podcasts you can listen to, this is one that listens back. I really want to continue what we started decades ago…
“For us, it was all about curious investigation. It was about looking a little closer. About asking the right questions. About following the clues that helped lead us toward greater understanding.
“Alive is really just a continuation of that same conversation — only now we’re grown-ups, trying to make sense of a world that’s a whole lot more complicated. We’re still searching, still learning, still trying to connect. Still doing our best to lead deeply examined lives, together. And, you know, there’ll be less talking furniture, sure, but we’re still going to have a lot of fun along the way.”
The show was partially inspired by a video Burns posted in 2021 that went viral on social media.
In the video, which saw Burns appear in a green-striped collared shirt similar to the one he wore on the show, the former host took the opportunity to explain why he left the show, and what he learned while he was away.
“Hi, you got a second? 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,” Burns began. “And we didn’t see each other for, like, a really long time.
“Can we just talk about that?”
In the two-minute clip, Burns went on to discuss his “abrupt” departure and much that had happened since. The video prompted an outpouring of emotional responses from former fans of the show, with many jokingly admitting that they didn’t know how much they needed the supportive message.
