Steve Burns reflects on early struggles with pay during Blue’s Clues, shares his path to fame

Steve Burns reveals he struggled financially while hosting Blue’s Clues, relying on voiceover work to make ends meet.

Steve Burns, best known for hosting Blue’s Clues, recently opened up about the financial struggles he faced during his early years on the show.

In an interview with Rainn Wilson on the May 1 episode of the Soul Boom podcast, Burns admitted that his pay for hosting the beloved Nickelodeon children’s series was "grim" for a long time.

Despite the fame Blue’s Clues brought him, Burns revealed that he made less money than many waiters he knew in the early seasons of the show. "Every waiter I ever knew made more money than I did for the first many seasons," Burns said. For much of that time, Burns relied on his voiceover work for commercials to support himself, which he described as his primary income. He even lived in a hallway in a New York City apartment while managing his Blue’s Clues duties as a "side hustle."

Burns also shared his initial hesitation about the role, recalling that he had no intention of becoming the host. He had originally thought the audition was for a voiceover gig and had never considered working in children's television. “If I had known that it was to be the guy on the show, I wouldn’t have gone,” he said. Despite his reluctance, Burns ultimately decided to go for it, using his acting training from the esteemed Uta Hagen to give the audition his best effort.

Burns hosted Blue’s Clues from 1996 to 2002. After his departure, Donovan Patton took over as the on-screen host, and the show was later revived with Josh Dela Cruz as the new host in Blue’s Clues & You!, with Burns making occasional appearances.