He said so himself. Over and over and over again.
For the uninitiated, Blue's Clues is Nickelodeon's hit preschoolers' show (the one with the big, blue cartoon dog). The Blue's Clues guy is actor Steve Burns, the animated program's token human.
And the reason Steve Burns keeps reassuring us of his vital signs is that a particularly virulent urban legend keeps striking him dead.
"I haven't ever felt healthier," Burns, 25, told The Rosie O'Donnell Show last December.
The appearance was designed to dispel the then-red-hot rumor that he'd gone to kiddie-show-host heaven (ostensibly of a heroin overdose). Burns also provided quotable, I'm-still-here blurbs to several magazines and newspapers.
Lot of good all that did.
This past week, Burns was forced back onto the stump, doing NBC's Today. Saying the never-say-die rumor is upsetting his show's young fans, Burns told guest-host Maria Shriver what he'd told Rosie four months earlier--HE'S NOT DEAD.
Burns said the bogus death notice was traced to the (what else?) Internet, where confused Netizens, as recently as a few weeks ago, were still posting messages such as: "I just heard that Steve from Blue's Clues overdosed on heroin. Is this right?" (Note: NO.)
At one point in the saga, Burns said, even his mother telephoned to see if was alive. (Note: HE WAS.)
Blue's Clues premiered on Nickelodeon in September 1996. It stars Burns as the kindly owner of Blue, a dog prone to leaving paw prints (i.e. clues) all over the house.
Burns' other credits include a 1998 guest appearance on the NBC drama series called (uh-oh) Homicide.