in 1990, martin was cast as the fictional father of jerry seinfeld, morty seinfeld in the sitcom "seinfeld". his first appearance was in season 2's "the pony remark". martin replaced phil bruns who first portrayed the character in his first appearance in season 1's "the stake out". he took on the role upon showrunners larry david and jerry seinfeld deciding they wanted the character of morty seinfeld to be harsher, as they thought bruns was too laid-back for the character. he retained this role until the series ended in 1998.