Among the actors who auditioned for the part were Armin Shimerman, Dan Schneider and Wayne Knight. Knight remarked that he was very excited to audition, as he was already a fan of the show. David immediately thought Knight was "terrific" for the part, and was also amused by his hefty appearance as opposed to Kramer's slim figure. Though Seinfeld felt introducing a friend of Kramer might ruin the character's mystique, Knight's performance convinced him otherwise. The part was initially a one-time guest-appearance, but Seinfeld and David were impressed with Knight and felt Newman was a character they could further exploit; as Michael Richards later explained "our show was driven by characters and there was no way they were going to let Wayne Knight go." Newman would remain a recurring character until the series' finale in 1998. To establish better continuity, Knight re-recorded Newman's lines in "The Revenge" for the syndicated version of the episode. Both versions of the dialogue were included on the "Seinfeld: Volume 1" DVD boxset.