The Voice Of Shaggy Quit Scooby-Doo, And He Only Returned After The Show Made A Major Change

Shaggy has been a fixture of pop culture since the 1960s, so you could be forgiven for assuming that a lot of people have voiced him over the years. You would be wrong, though. One guy was the voice of Shaggy almost exclusively for nearly four decades, and that man was radio icon Casey Kasem. 

American Top 40 presenter Kasem once told The New York Times, “Shaggy is one of my claims to fame, but I think Casey surpasses him a little bit. However, one will last longer than the other, and Shaggy will go on forever. They are going to be playing Shaggy and Scooby-Doo for eons and eons.”

Clearly, Kasem recognized that his beloved creation would long outlive him. The star was proven right because, after he sadly passed away in 2014, every actor who has subsequently taken on the role has been tasked with mimicking him. It may be surprising, then, to learn that in 1997 he took a moral stand and walked away from Shaggy.

Kasem’s character first emerged on a Saturday morning in September 1969, when Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! debuted on CBS. It would then go on to launch a franchise that has endured for over 50 years. The brand has featured 13 animated series, 25 animated movies, two live-action films, countless items of merchandise, comic books and even video games.

But how did it all begin for this tale of a group of friends and a cowardly dog who solve supernatural mysteries? In a 2001 interview with the Archive of American Television, Fred Silverman revealed that the show sprung from an idea he’d had. The legendary CBS executive was a fan of classic horror comedies and felt something in that vein would make for a great cartoon.

“I was convinced this was going to be the biggest hit that we’d ever had, even though nobody knew what it was,” Silverman said. “I had always thought that kids in a haunted house would be a big hit. As a kid, I would go and look at Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and movies like that.”

Apparently, Silverman tasked the animation studio Hanna-Barbera with developing the idea. Joe Barbera initially came up with a pitch entitled House of Mystery but didn’t feel he had cracked it. Writers on the studio’s Space Ghost cartoon called Ken Spears and Joe Ruby were then brought in. They put together a pitch entitled Who’s S-S-Scared?? at Silverman’s request, which everyone was happy with.

Though the higher-ups at CBS had other ideas, according to the website Reel Rundown. They supposedly balked at the concept and felt that the creative team had included too much horror in their pitch. The executives worried that the show – on top of not being funny enough – would simply terrify any child who watched it. So, Silverman and his team were sent back to the drawing board to re-tool the concept.

Luckily, Silverman then had a brain wave on a flight to California. He revealed to the Archive of American Television, “As we’re going in for the landing, Frank Sinatra comes on and I hear him sing, ‘Doo-be-doo-be-doo.’” This excerpt from Ol’ Blue Eyes’ “Strangers In The Night” unlocked something in Silverman’s brain. The dog shouldn’t be along for the ride with the teens; he should be the star.

The TV legend said, “At that point, I said, ‘We’ll take the dog, we’ll call him Scooby-Doo, move him up front, and it’ll be a dog show.’ Our Abbott and Costello will be Scooby-Doo and Shaggy. In a matter of two hours, we had revised the concept.” In the end, the bond between Scooby and Shaggy would become the real heart of the franchise. 

Casey Kasem was subsequently cast as Norville “Shaggy” Rogers in the fledgling show, and a legend was born. He would wind up playing the character consecutively for nearly three decades – becoming one of the most defining voices for several generations. His scruffy hair, cowardly nature and unbreakable bond with his best friend Scoob would see Shaggy become an animated icon.

Kasem didn’t just lend his voice to Shaggy, though. He also voiced Robin the Boy Wonder for 12 years on various Super Friends shows and a host of characters on Transformers. In addition, Kasem was a regular voice on Sesame Street and played Mark – one of the main characters in Battle of the Planets. 

But Kasem is likely even more well known as the host of American Top 40. He first fronted the seminal radio chart show in 1970 and it ran until 2009, when he finally decided to retire. As the music and trends changed, the charmingly old fashioned Kasem always stayed the same – becoming a steadying influence in the lives of many.

It was this old fashioned nature that meant Kasem initially didn’t want to play Shaggy. He had his sights set on Fred – the handsome but boring leader of the Scooby gang. Though in 2019 legendary voice actor Frank Welker – who actually wound up voicing Fred – told Yahoo Entertainment that he would rather have played Shaggy! What a crazy world. 

Welker revealed that he and Kasem auditioned for the show on the same day, and both of them read for the character they genuinely wanted to play. He said, “I really liked Shaggy and tried to have fun with that, and I know Casey wanted to do Fred because he wasn’t really comfortable doing that kind of goofy Shaggy part.” But then Joe Ruby had the bright idea to pull a switcheroo.

Apparently, everything clicked once the actors swapped parts. Welker went on, “[Kasem] came up with that crazy, wonderful voice for Shaggy. [Ruby] said that Fred was the All-American hero type and that I should just do my own voice. I was like, ‘I never saw myself as the hero type, but okay!’” 

Kasem didn’t see himself as the hippie type, either. He reportedly had trouble voicing Shaggy in the early days. His real life personality was actually a million miles away from the laidback, psychedelic counterculture. So, it’s easy to see why he initially gravitated toward voicing Fred.

Kasem was also new to voice acting and had primarily been a radio presenter up to that point. Naturally, then, he struggled with playing a role so different to himself. In the end, Kasem reportedly based Shaggy’s voice and mannerisms on the character of Walter Denton from the 1950s sitcom Our Miss Brooks. The character was clumsy but loveable, and that worked perfectly for Shaggy.

Naturally, given Shaggy’s beatnik nature and almost permanent case of the munchies, fans have long believed the series was secretly saying he was a stoner. Kasem has always been adamant that this was never a consideration during the making of the show, though. In fact, he even claimed to be unaware of the theory until an interviewer asked him about it. 

Unlike his cowardly screen creation, in real life Kasem was anything but. He was a man who had strong beliefs and stood by them. He was a vegan and one of the first celebrities to speak out in favor of animal rights. In fact, he believed that using his platform to educate the public on these matters was of far more importance than his work as an entertainer.

According to The Guardian, Kasem said, “Some of the things that I do, I think are very important and much more important than the radio show or the television show that I do or anything else that I do. I think right at the top of the list is the basic thing. And, of course, the basic thing is to hopefully stop people from killing anything.”

Apparently, the iconic star wanted the world to “create a non-violent diet for themselves, because a non-violent world has roots in a non-violent diet.” Kasem was vehemently opposed to factory farming, and in the ’90s he raised concerns about the environmental impact of the agriculture business. And this kind of thing wasn’t talked about as much by celebrities back then.

“There are 5 million acres of rainforest in Central and South America that are cut down every year for cattle pastures,” Kasem told USA Today in 1997. “Most of the grain that we grow goes for animals, and that affects our topsoil. Also, animal agriculture is the biggest contributor to water pollution that we have.” 

You could therefore say that Kasem was one of the original humanitarian celebrities. In 1990 The New York Times Magazine published a profile of him which spotlighted his keen interest in many political and social issues of the day. In fact, it reckoned he devoted four days a week to his humanitarian efforts and only one to recording Casey’s Top Forty.

Times journalist Susan Orlean wrote of Kasem, “He is a hardcore vegetarian, a reformed heavy smoker, an anti-nuclear activist, and an advocate of animal rights, homeless rights, Palestinian rights, reincarnation, topsoil and peace.” She also revealed he gave her a few gifts after their chat – including a book about vegetarianism and a can of coffee alternative.

This brings us to 1997, when Kasem and Shaggy parted ways. And apparently, it was all because of his strict adherence to veganism. As part of a promotional campaign, Kasem was asked to voice Shaggy in a television commercial for Burger King. As a man of principle, the talent refused to do it. He even quit the main show in protest as well.

For five long years, Kasem stayed away from the character of Shaggy, with actors Scott Innes and Billy West filling in while he was gone. But that all changed when Kids’ WB decided to put together a new iteration of the show entitled What’s New, Scooby-Doo? Yep, they wanted Shaggy’s original voice back. And in 2002 that show hit the air with Kasem in tow.

What convinced Kasem to return, then? Well, the producers actually listened to his concerns this time and altered the character of Shaggy according to Kasem’s wishes. The good-natured hippie who’d always been depicted with an insatiable appetite for “Scooby Snacks” had made an alteration to his diet. Gone were the huge meat-based sandwiches; Shaggy was now a vegetarian.

It was a fitting decision by the studio to let Shaggy be influenced by Kasem’s real-life beliefs. After all, his voice is synonymous with the character. To most people, Casey Kasem is Shaggy. Future versions of the cartoon – including ones made after he stopped voicing him in 2009 – would stick with the character trait. 

In fact, Shaggy being a vegetarian even carried over into the live-action movie franchise. As played by Matthew Lillard, Shaggy was depicted eating veggie burgers in 2002’s Scooby-Doo: The Movie. Kasem had left an indelible, lasting mark on his most famous animated character, and now the people who came after him were determined to honor that.

Lillard became the go-to Shaggy animated voice following Kasem’s retirement. The Scream star talked to Digital Spy in 2015 about wanting to protect Kasem’s legacy as the character. Lillard also revealed that in order to accurately portray the hungry hippie, he meticulously studied Kasem’s vocal performances from the original episodes. 

“I would listen to a recording – I had five episodes of [Kasem] on loop, and I would just mimic him the entire time,” Lillard explained. “That’s what really solidified the voice and the character and carried me all the way through.” To the actor – who grew up on Scooby-Doo – playing Shaggy was a true honor that he would never take lightly.

In 2015 Lillard told Den of Geek, “Well, he’s a character I cherish because I’m the protector of that character. He’s mine, and I’m the steward of Shaggy right now. It was Casey Kasem for a long time and now it’s me and I take that seriously.” He added, “It’s a feel-good kind of character. And it’s very rewarding.”

By the time 2020 rolled around, though, another actor was brought into the fold to give their rendition of Shaggy. The Last Man On Earth star Will Forte told TheWrap that he was nervous after signing up for the animated movie Scoob. As the new steward of the character, he had to live up to Kasem’s legacy and also Lillard’s.

“Shaggy is very beloved, and it has everything to do with Casey Kasem and that amazing voice of his, and it just is an iconic voice like no other,” Forte gushed. “That is what I think really made people fall in love with Shaggy in the first place. I thought Matthew Lillard did an amazing job.” 

“And as much of an honor as this is, it was an incredibly daunting thing to come in and have to do the same thing that already was just such a tough thing for him to do,” Forte went on. Adding to the difficulty, though, was that he was encouraged to make the role his own – despite Lillard and especially Kasem casting such a long shadow. Naturally, it wasn’t an easy task.

Yet it only seems fitting to have any final words about Kasem’s iconic voice come from the man himself. During the 1990 New York Times Magazine piece, he gave his voice a rather strange designation: “garbage.” He explained, “It’s a natural quality of huskiness in the midrange of my voice that I call ‘garbage.’”

“It’s not a clear-toned announcer’s voice,” continued Kasem. “It’s more like the voice of the guy next door.” In truth, the vocal superstar simply felt he made the best use of what he had. Kasem went on, “I really don’t think it’s that I have a God-given voice that’s so special. I just found a showcase that made good use of my particular voice. ”

Kasem’s philosophy was, “It’s all storytelling. It’s an ancient form. Even when I do commercials, I try to tell a story about the product. With music, I try to tell the story of the person’s struggle for success. And I believe every word I say. I never read anything on the air I don’t believe in. I think people sense that about me, and they respond to it.”