Not to be confused with Shaggy (musician)

Fictional character in Scooby-Doo

Norville "Shaggy" Rogers is a fictional character in the Scooby-Doo franchise. He is a cowardly slacker and the long-time best friend of his equally cowardly Great Dane, Scooby-Doo. Like Scooby-Doo, Shaggy is more interested in eating than solving mysteries.

Character description

Shaggy has a characteristic speech pattern, marked by his frequent use of the filler word "like" and, when startled, his exclamations of "Zoinks!". His nickname derives from the shaggy style of his sandy-blond hair. He also sports a rough goatee. His signature attire consists of a green v-neck T-shirt and maroon or brown bell-bottom pants, both of which fit loosely. In The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo and early made-for-TV movies, he wore a red v-neck and blue jeans.

Both Scooby and Shaggy are readily bribed with Scooby Snacks due to their mutual large appetites. Both display tendencies toward loafing and cowardice. Both justify their hunger by insisting that "Being in a constant state of terror makes us constantly hungry!" in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. Shaggy's favorite dish is "extra cheese pizza with pickles" (as revealed in the TV movie Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo). In "Bedlam in the Big Top", he says he used to be in track and in "What a Night for a Knight", that he was a gymnast – both of which hint at his uncanny skills in quickly evading villains and the reason he is invariably assigned the role of bait in Fred's traps. Due to being in track he has shown, in some instances, to be able to run even faster than Scooby, even when the latter is running on all fours. An early episode "A Clue for Scooby-Doo", from the inaugural series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, reveals that his taste for unlikely food combinations (chocolate-covered hot dogs and liverwurst "a la mode", for example) is a consequence of an infant Shaggy receiving a garbage disposal unit for his first toy. In Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico, Fred states that the reason Shaggy eats so much (and maintains his slender physique) is his "high metabolism". However, in Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes, Fred states that the real reason Shaggy is so skinny is because he goes on a vegan diet (a reference to Casey Kasem's vegetarian lifestyle). Shaggy has shown himself capable of impressive feats of athleticism through fear alone; however, these abilities are invariably of a comic nature, with Shaggy only seeming capable of such feats when panicked. In Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare, in frustration at being trapped, he shakes the iron bars of an old-fashioned jail cell so hard they collapse.

Shaggy's typical immediate reaction to experiences or perceptions of supposed supernatural occurrences is terror-struck cowardice. This was explained in the Legend of the Phantosaur as a possible type of panic disorder; in this instance, he was temporarily cured with hypnotherapy.

Development

The four teenage lead characters of Scooby-Doo were inspired by four of the main characters from the 1959–63 American sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, with Shaggy having been derived from the character Maynard G. Krebs, as played by Bob Denver.[4] Maynard's beatnik-style goatee, general appearance, and use of the word "like" as a form of punctuation all found their way into the character of Shaggy, with the base personality of the character updated to make him a hippie rather than a beatnik.[5]

Casey Kasem, the first voice actor for Shaggy, said that he originally felt uncomfortable after being assigned to Shaggy. Kasem stated that while he was "hip to what hippies were about", he had never before portrayed a hippie character. Kasem had wanted to portray Fred Jones, and Frank Welker had wanted to portray Shaggy. Instead, the CBS network assigned Kasem to Shaggy and Welker to Fred.[6] Unsure of what the voice of a hippie would sound like, Kasem based his vocal style and mannerisms for Shaggy on those of Richard Crenna's character Walter Denton from the radio/television sitcom Our Miss Brooks.[7]

Kasem stated that as he continued to voice Shaggy, the character evolved. Kasem explained that the "voice dynamics" improved and that his laughs increasingly gained quality. Kasem added that Shaggy in 2002 is "more frightened today than he was at the beginning."[6] Kasem convinced the producers that Shaggy should be a vegetarian, like himself, in 2002.[8][9]

Actors

Matthew Lillard , seen here in character in the 2002 film, portrayed Shaggy in two films and has provided Shaggy's voice since 2010.

Radio disc-jockey, comedian, and actor Casey Kasem created the character's voice. Kasem voiced Shaggy for 28 years, from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! in 1969 until the "Bravo Dooby-Doo" episode of Johnny Bravo in 1997. Starting with What's New, Scooby-Doo? in 2002 and Looney Tunes: Back in Action in 2003, Kasem resumed the role and continued to do so until his retirement in 2009. Billy West voiced the character in the film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998). Scott Innes (who has also voiced Scooby and Scrappy-Doo) voiced Shaggy in the 1999–2001 direct-to-video films, and in video games until 2009. Innes reprised Shaggy in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, and a DirecTV commercial featuring the Scooby gang in 2008. Scott Menville voiced Shaggy in Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!. As of 2010, Matthew Lillard, who also played Shaggy in the 2002 and 2004 live-action films, took over the voice of Shaggy. Lillard also played Shaggy in Robot Chicken and MAD. Nick Palatas played Shaggy in the 2009 and 2010 live-action films. Will Forte voiced the character for the 2020 animated film, Scoob! while Iain Armitage voices Shaggy as a child.[10][11]

Voiced by:

Portrayed by:

Relatives

Relatives of Shaggy shown during the series include:

Background

In some of the Scooby-Doo series, Shaggy is born in Coolsville, Ohio. When he was old enough to go to school he adopted Scooby–Doo from the Knittingham Puppy Farm. Later on, he met Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, and Velma Dinkley. They became friends and they decided to be a team named Mystery Inc. (short for Mystery Incorporated). According to Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes, Shaggy was the one who bought the Mystery Machine and gave it its paint job; Fred wanted it painted red.

According to Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes, Shaggy's old nickname was Buzz (named after his buzz haircut) until his tenth birthday. Fred reveals that Shaggy occasionally goes on a vegan diet, the real reason he is so skinny. Shaggy once had to battle an unhealthy habit of overeating the Scooby Snacks; Velma calculated that he once ate exactly forty-five percent of his body weight. This led to him dieting and starting a new hobby: collecting decorator belt buckles. Shaggy owns the largest collection of decorator belt buckles in the world and currently owns six hundred and fifty-three. Shaggy also states that he wears a different belt buckle for every mystery (the joke is that his baggy shirt always hides them).

In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, he is born in and is a citizen of Crystal Cove. His parents' names are Colton and Paula Rogers and appear to be quite well off, living in a mansion. He is a member of the new Mystery Incorporated. He also dates Velma for a short period during the first season.

Shaggy and Scooby make a cameo appearance in the 2003 live-action/animated film Looney Tunes: Back in Action, where they berate Matthew Lillard over his portrayal of Shaggy in the 2002 live-action film and warn they might attack him if he plays Shaggy in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

Other appearances

Video games

Shaggy appears as a playable character, along with Scooby, in the crossover video game Lego Dimensions. Shaggy's character includes the Mystery Machine. Matthew Lillard reprises his role for the game.

Internet memes

Shaggy's appearance as a skilled brawler and daredevil while in a hypnotized state in Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur became the subject of an internet meme in 2017 when YouTube user Midya uploaded "Ultra Instinct Shaggy", juxtaposing a scene from the film where Shaggy singlehandedly defeated a biker gang with "Kyūkyoku no Battle" by Akira Kushida from the Dragon Ball Super soundtrack. This later spawned numerous fan art depictions of Shaggy as a superhuman being, as well as screenshots of behind-the-scenes interviews from the 2002 film with fake captions making it seem as if Matthew Lillard and the rest of the cast were attesting to Shaggy's "immense power" on set.[12][13] The meme also led to a Change.org petition to add him as a DLC character in Mortal Kombat 11,[14] which brought the attention of both Mortal Kombat series co-creator Ed Boon and Matthew Lillard.[15][16]

Controversy

Some viewers of the original Scooby-Doo believed that Shaggy smoked marijuana due to his antics, mannerisms, vocabulary, general behavior and constant hunger. In a Newsweek article, Casey Kasem was asked if he had ever observed that subtext in the series and Kasem responded that "there wasn't anything like that at all", explaining "guess it's because, I don't know, it was a wholesome show from beginning to end" and was not aware of the fan viewpoint until the interviewer brought it up.[6] Parodying the subtext, the makers of the Scooby-Doo film shot several scenes referring to Shaggy's supposed drug use, but few of those scenes were included in the final film.[6] One scene in the film has a character tell Shaggy that her name is Mary Jane, a slang name for marijuana, and he responds, "Like, that is my favorite name". Matthew Lillard, the current voice of Shaggy, does not think he smokes marijuana: "He just seems like that. He acts a little goofy and high, he's lovable and scared — and just happens to have the munchies."[17]

In addition, in an online radio interview with host Stu Shostak, series creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears recalled that they never intended for Shaggy to be a smoker of marijuana, and "took umbrage" to the inclusion of allusions to such in the 2002 Scooby-Doo live-action feature film.[5]