The Real Reason Joe Left Blue's Clues

One of the biggest mysteries of Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues (aside from who sent the letter from the "We Just Got A Letter" song) is, what happened to Joe? 

Joe of Blue's Clues fame (played by actor Donovan Patton) replaced the iconic Steve (Steve Burns) as host of the hit kids show in 2002, and after 100 episodes. Viewers were confused why the khaki-wearing, stripe shirted Steve was leaving, but the bizarre, if oddly addicting, #90skids show handled the situation well. In a special episode, Steve explained he was going off to college, leaving his trusty, animated sidekick Blue in the hands of... Joe. Sadly, it just wasn't the same. Though Joe did an apt job at solving mysteries in the part-animated, part-live action series, and was perfectly fine at asking direct questions to the screen like Steve, it just felt different. After another 50 episodes, Joe left Blue's Clues as well. Hmm...

The truth behind Steve Burns' departure was actually quite rational. The star wanted to pursue music (he's since collaborated with the band The Flaming Lips, among others) and ... he was losing his hair. "I knew I wasn't gonna be doing children's television all my life, mostly because I refused to lose my hair on a kid's TV show, and it was happening. Fast," the star said in a later Nickelodeon special. Huh. Well, then what happened to Donovan Patton, AKA, Joe, whose final episode aired in 2006? Scroll down to find out. 

Why did Joe, AKA Donovan Patton, leave Blue's Clues? We don't need any paw print clues to know the answer; it's actually quite simple: the series ended. 

After Joe's 50 episodes, Blue's Clues was cancelled in 2006. Whether it was because times were changing (maybe Dora The Explorer was stealing those pint-sized viewers) or Joe really wasn't cutting it, Nickelodeon gave the show the chop. That is, until Blue's Clues & You!, a reboot show, premiered with a new host, Joshua Dela Cruz, in 2019 to strong ratings. Now, Joe is sadly the middle child of Blue's Clues' human counterparts ... but he is focused on being a father himself. Plus he has an impressive resume of small roles and voice work and appreciates the impact he had. 

"I don't think I still fully grasp the enormity of all of that," Patton told LiveAbout. "Just because you know now I'm seeing it as a parent really." He added, "When you make somebody's kids happy it's just, I don't know. I used to call it the sucker punch ... There's nothing in the world like seeing your kids happy and that there's something that they enjoy. I also see the educational aspects of it too, because my daughter watches it. And I actually prefer when she watches the Steve episodes." Ha! 

Donovan Patton continued, "But she likes them both ... she'll say 'that's Dada's show', but she doesn't call me Joe or anything."