‘Blue’s Clues’ Star Steve Burns Gives Fans ‘Chills’ at College Commencement: ‘The Graduation Speech Everyone Deserves’

Steve Burns

On May 18, Steve Burns—widely known as Steve from the Nickelodeon show "Blue's Clues"—delivered an impactful college commencement speech that gave fans "chills."

Burns was the keynote speaker at the State University of New York at Delhi on Saturday. And folks on social media agree that his message was equal parts humorous and inspiring.

"You see, 45 million years ago, I was the original gangster host of the children's television show on Nickelodeon called Blue's Clues," Burns said while wearing a cap and gown in front of hundreds of 2024 SUNY Delhi graduates.

“In each and every episode, I would need your help, and so I would stand in front of the camera and look into the lens as if I was looking right at you, my ride or die, and I would ask, ‘Will you help me?’" he continued. "And you always did, thankfully, because I never would have found any of those clues without you. So, before we go any further, sincerely, thanks for all your help."

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"Very often, someone will repeat to me a phrase that I said all the time on every episode, and that's 'if you use your mind and take a step at a time, you can do anything that you wanna do,'" he said.

Burns shared a humorous anecdote about preschool-aged kids taking this advice literally—explaining that a child sent him a piece of fan mail declaring he wanted to be "a pizza."

The former Nickelodeon star also explained the purpose of that phrase was to be an "empowering reminder of the power of hard work," as well as an "empowering reminder of the importance of having a dream."

In the comments of a TikTok video of Burns' speech, fans reacted to the former Nickelodeon star's message. "We don't deserve Steve Burns," one person declared.

Another TikTok user wrote, "I would just be silently crying in my seat 😭❤️," while another commented, "The way I would sob!! Blues clues was LIFE."

Someone else shared, "It's crazy to me that Steve feels like a friend I haven't seen in a long time. I'm 34. I watched blue's clues everyday with my brother. I never thought I would feel this way about Steve."

Meanwhile, yet another TikTok user commented, "Now that's a commencement speech ❤️."

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