Q&A: Scott Innes, voice of Scooby-Doo (and others), in Evansville for Raptor Con

Working as one of the voices of a character who's a favorite across multiple generations isn't easy, but Scott Innes makes it look that way.

Innes is who they called when they wanted a voice for Scooby-Doo, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, and Scrappy-Doo for the past 25 years. The 57-year-old's journey started when he voiced Scooby-Doo in 1998's "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island" after Don Messick's death in 1997.

The film has an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $165 million at the box office.

Since that movie, he has voiced either of the three characters in "Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost"(1999), "Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders" (2000), "Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase"(2001), "Scooby-Doo"(2002), and many more of the video games, TV specials, commercials, and other entertainment throughout the late 90s and early 2000s.

"I auditioned and ended up beating out about 200 people for the role and ended up ultimately beating Dave Coulier From 'Full House,' which was kind of funny," he said.

Growing up in the small town of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Innes knew he wanted to get out and do something big for a career.

His portfolio includes doing other Hanna-Barbara characters including Fred Flinstone, Papa Smurf, Hong Kong Phooey and others. He has written numerous songs including "Handprints on the Wall," recorded by Kenny Rogers, done some publishing, and has been an afternoon radio personality.

Innes will be next to Billy West, who voiced Shaggy in "Zombie Island" at RaptorCon in Evansville this weekend, the first convention to bring the two back together. The event takes place at the National Guard armory at 3300 E. Division St. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.theraptorcon.com.

"I'm still having fun and always say it's a dream come true for me," he said.

The Courier & Press was able to speak with Innes ahead of Raptor Con about his extensive career.

What got you into this career?

Well, I was in radio and it's my passion and my love. I'm still in radio and have been since I was 12 years old.

But that helped open up the doors. I loved doing cartoon voices and I always did them in the shower. I would always mimic voices and realize that I had a knack for picking up on dialogue. So I'd listen to somebody do the voice of Popeye and then I would watch how he did it, and then I would learn how to do it.

What made you get started in the Radio field?

I was a disc jockey at a skating rink and my stepfather owned a record store. You take that kind of combination, and I created my own fake radio station and one thing led to another and I found myself getting a part-time job running "America's Top 40" with Casey Kasem.

And that's what led to me in learning how to do Shaggy because Casey Kasem was the voice of Shaggy. I guess mimicking and listening to Casey do Shaggy on American Top 40, basically doing his own self. I was able to pick up on Casey's dialect and once I got that down, I was able to slide the voice up a little higher and perfect the Shaggy voice.

Did you study anything to get into radio or voice acting?

I tell people this: you either got it or you don't, end of story.

I don't think you can train yourself to do that stuff. I think you can train yourself to do it, but I think to be good at it and to have a talent in it, you have to be born with it. It's different than being a painter which you can learn to be a good painter. But some people were just born to paint.

You've just got to have it and I was lucky enough to be just one of those kids. I was the class clown and I was born to entertain. I was born to do funny voices and one thing led to another and that door opened and bam, by sheer accident I stepped into the biggest paws in cartoon history.

What's the one thing you love most about the conventions?

I love to reach out and physically touch and eyeball-to-eyeball look, and fully listen to people tell how Scooby-Doo has touched their lives. It's an emotional feeling to be right there and hear their stories.

What do you think Scooby-Doo means to several generations?

Scooby Doo is the longest-running continuous cartoon in TV history as it's never gone off of the air. And Scooby Doo represents the coward in all of us as everybody has their breaking point in life. For Scooby, it's Scooby Snacks. He represents really what we all are as we all have the cowardice, but we all have the point where we go, "Okay, here I go."

Is it easy or hard to switch between voices? How do you get yourself in the mindset of doing the different characters' voices?

I just do it because it lives in me and it's not that hard to switch. In the studio, you go line for line. It's trying to get me into the characters and finding the real Scott in us because the characters live in me and come out all the time. So finding Scott through the characters is the difficult part because I eat and breathe these characters. You know, they're very close to my heart.

I gotta give credit where credit is due. Sister CJ, whose real name is Cecilia Olinger, was my seventh- and eighth-grade Catholic school teacher in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. And she used to whip me and hit me over the head with the erasers and she dragged me out in the hall for doing these crazy voices with one hand. She was like MacGyver or The Incredible Hulk. But she's coming to see me because she said that she wants to see some of my finest work and, "If I hadn't been so rough on you, there's no telling where you would have ended up − probably in a straitjacket."

What advice do you have for anyone trying to break into the field?

Record everything, post everything and put your number on social media so people can contact you. Back then, I can only imagine where my career would be now, and I've been blessed. But I can only imagine where it would have been if I'd had an iPhone back in the 70s, probably would have opened up a portal to another dimension.

Believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, other people will believe in you, and don't be shy. If you're shy, you're never going to make it. You've got to be out there and be wild and wacky. Be funny, be the guy people laugh at laugh. It's okay to have even people laugh at you, they'll laugh with you or laugh at you, but at least they're laughing and then put your phone number on it.

Why do you think conventions like these are important in communities?

I think they're very important because years ago, everybody had all these things they loved and they had no out and no way of expressing themselves for their love for Darth Vader, Shazam or Spiderman or Powerpuff Girls or Scooby Doo. Now they can walk the halls and show total expression and can be dressed up as crazy as they want to be and nobody looks at them like they're geeks. It's a big Halloween party all year long. You can be your favorite character and nobody judges.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Scott Innes, voice of Scooby-Doo, is in Evansville for Raptor Con