The Talents of Wayne Knight Trivia Quiz

Answer: attempting suicide by jumping out of Jerry's building

This first 'appearance' of Newman occurred in the second season of 'Seinfeld'. In the original airing, the show's co-creator Larry David did the voice of Newman: Wayne Knight later dubbed in his voice, and is heard now whenever the episode airs in syndication.

It was not until the third season, in an episode titled 'The Suicide' (attempted by another of Jerry's neighbors) that Newman appears on screen, and establishes both his gossiping nature and his friendship with Kramer. His role as Jerry's nemesis developed over time.

Answer: Dirty Dancing (1987)

Stan was the social director of the resort where the action takes place. It was not a large part (this was still five years before he made his name on 'Seinfeld'), but did give Wayne Knight the opportunity to display some of his comic timing. In one scene he enthusiastically delivers a bad joke ("You know, I finally met a girl exactly like my mother - dress like her, acts like her - so I brought her home. My Father doesn't like her!") and is forced to start laughing at his own joke to try and engage the audience.

In 'My Favorite Martian' he was the voice of Zoot the Suit (an animated space suit; better not to ask for more information). In 'Rat Race' he was Zack Mallozzi, an ambulance driver who hits one of the characters involved in the race, subsequently losing the heart he was transporting to a transplant recipient. 'She Wants Me' saw him playing Walter Baum.

Wayne Knight also played another character named Stan: Stan Podolak in 'Space Jam' (1996). Stan was Michael Jordan's assistant, and one of the few human characters interacting with a bunch of animated ones from the Looney Tunes stable.

Answer: JFK (1991)

Numa Bertel was a member of the staff of New Orleans DA Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) as he investigated what he came to believe was a massive conspiracy behind the assassination of President Kennedy.

In 'Pros and Cons' he played a prison guard named Wayne; his character in 'Black Cloud', about a young native American boxer, was named Mr Tipping; in the romcom 'Excuse Me for Living' he is Albert, one of the members of the senior men's group that the main character is compelled to join.

Answer: Piccolo

In 'Dead Again' his character, Pete Dugan, was nicknamed Piccolo Pete. Pete helps his friend Mike (Kenneth Branagh) identify a mysterious woman (Emma Thompson) with amnesia. Of course, it gets a lot more complicated than that sounds, with multiple mysteries to be solved in different times, and reincarnation adding to the confusion about who is really who.

In the single-season sitcom 'The Second Half' he was Robert Piccolo, a friend of the main character, a divorced sports columnist whose relationships with his ex-wife and his daughters give him plenty to discuss with his pals.

Answer: Jurassic Park (1993)

Wayne Knight was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the disgruntled computer programmer who deactivates the park's security system in order to steal some dinosaur embryos. This in turn allows the T. Rex to escape, just as a tour bus is stranded nearby due to the loss of power. And Nedry doesn't even get time to enjoy the fruits of his theft - he succumbs to a Dilophosaurus after crashing his escape vehicle.

'Born on the Fourth of July' saw him in a small role as an official at the Democratic convention. 'V.I. Warshawski' had Kathleen Turner in the title role as a private investigator, with Wayne Knight as a shady mob figure named Earl 'Bonehead' Smeissen.

'Basic Instinct' saw him playing Assistant District Attorney John Corelli, one of those questioning Catherine (Sharon Stone) in the infamous scene where she spreads her legs to reveal she is not wearing underwear.

Answer: Chameleon (1995)

'Chameleon' involves an operation organised by Stuart Langston to use Willie Serling (Anthony LaPaglia) in an undercover operation to find the source of a leak within the Drug Enforcement Administration. Serling is a master of disguise, which comes in handy during the events that ensue.

In 'To Die For' he is Ed Grant, a worker at the television station where Suzanne (Nicole Kidman) gets a job in order to further her career (in more ways than one).

In 'For Richer or Poorer' he played Bob Lachman, the larcenous accountant of Brad Sexton (Tim Allen) whose attempt to make his client take the blame for the tax frauds sets off the plot of the film.

In 'Blindspotting' his character, Patrick, worked at the moving company where the two main characters were employed.

Answer: 3rd Rock from the Sun

Even while he was portraying the recurrent character of Newman on 'Seinfeld', which ran from 1992 through 1998, Wayne Knight started to appear on '3rd Rock from the Sun' (1996-2001) as Donald Leslie Orville, known as Officer Don. He has an on again-off again relationship with Sally (played by Kristen Johnson), the member of the four-strong alien task force sent to explore humans who was allocated the persona of a woman. Officer Don is not a very good policeman - he admits in one episode that he is a coward who joined the force so that he would be surrounded by policemen - but he is a passionate baker, and in the last season retires to run a muffin shop. As Sally and the others prepare to depart at the end of their mission, she helps Don master some of the fundamentals of effective police work, so he can rejoin the force.

Wayne Knight was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1998-1999) for his work as Officer Don. The three incorrect options are series in which he appeared in a single episode - in fact, he only provided the voice of Lily's landlord in one episode of 'How I Met Your Mother'.

Answer: Microwave

This direct-to-video film, the third and final installment of the Brave Little Toaster series, sees a collection of household appliances head off to rescue the son of their owner (who has been accidentally sent to Mars) before his parents wake up and miss him. Microwave is brash and somewhat offensive, but he is the one who can power the vehicle they use to fly through space and accomplish their mission.
.
As well as providing the voice for Emperor Zurg in 'Buzz Lightyear of Star Command' (a 2000 TV show), Igor in 'Toonsylvania' (a 1998 TV show) and Demetrius the Pot Maker in 'Hercules' (a 1997 film), he played Al McWhiggin, the greedy toy store owner who kidnapped Woody in 'Toy Story 2'.

Answer: Tantor the elephant

In this Disney film based on the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tantor is an African elephant whose skin is red-brown, rather than the grey of reality. He is friendly, but phobic, regularly being unnecessarily frightened. He is a close friend of Tarzan (voiced by Tony Goldwyn), a human raised by gorillas; his foster mother Kala (voiced by Glenn Close) convinced her reluctant mate Kerchak (voiced by Lance Henriksen) to let her raise the boy in place of the youngster that had been killed by the leopard Sabor. Kerchak's (well justified) dislike of humans made him uncomfortable with the situation, but Tarzan eventually earns his respect by killing Sabor.

As is the case for most Tarzan books/films/television shows, the plot involves conflict between humans and the animals of the jungle, with Tarzan struggling to come to grips with his identity in situations that emphasise the differences between the two groups to which he belongs. This time we have some good guys (Jane and her father) who want to study and understand the gorillas, and some bad guys who want to hunt them. Guess who wins.

Answer: Elf: The Musical

Wayne Knight's stage career predated his work on television and in film, and he has returned regularly to the stage alongside with his other efforts. It began with his first Broadway show in 1979, when he joined the long-running 'Gemini' in the role of Herschel Weinberger at the age of 23. Then came an interval of working as a private investigator and developing his craft as an actor. In 1989 he played several small parts in 'Mastergate', and in 1999 he performed as Yvan, one of the three central characters in the English version of the French play 'Art'. In 2005 he joined a revival of 'Sweet Charity' as Herman, the manager of the Fandango Ballroom where charity works.

'Elf: The Musical' was based on the 2003 film 'Elf' starring Will Ferrell as a human boy raised by Santa's elves who sets off to find his roots. When the show ran on Broadway in 2010, the part of Santa was played by George Wendt (whom you may recall from his work as Norm on 'Cheers'); for the 2012 revival it was Wayne Knight who framed the story by sending Buddy on his way to New York City at the start of the show, and welcoming him back to the North Pole for an annual Christmas visit (with his whole human family, including a wife and newborn child) to close the show.

Continuing the Santa theme, in 2023 he provided the voice of Mr Hodges in the straight-to-video animation 'Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie'. Perhaps not the climax of his career, but another notch for proficient and versatile comedy work.