diff --git a/pkg/conversion/converter_test.go b/pkg/conversion/converter_test.go
index ca2b2c657d2..96c569cd6cd 100644
--- a/pkg/conversion/converter_test.go
+++ b/pkg/conversion/converter_test.go
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ func TestConverter_CallsRegisteredFunctions(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestConverter_fuzz(t *testing.T) {
 	newAnonType := func() interface{} {
-		return reflect.New(reflect.TypeOf(externalTypeReturn())).Interface()
+		return reflect.New(reflect.TypeOf(externalTypeReturn()).Elem()).Interface()
 	}
 	// Use the same types from the scheme test.
 	table := []struct {
diff --git a/pkg/conversion/scheme.go b/pkg/conversion/scheme.go
index 1c0a9836c2d..af88ba4e63e 100644
--- a/pkg/conversion/scheme.go
+++ b/pkg/conversion/scheme.go
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ func NewScheme() *Scheme {
 
 // AddKnownTypes registers all types passed in 'types' as being members of version 'version.
 // Encode() will refuse objects unless their type has been registered with AddKnownTypes.
-// All objects passed to types should be structs, not pointers to structs. The name that go
-// reports for the struct becomes the "kind" field when encoding.
+// All objects passed to types should be pointers to structs. The name that go reports for
+// the struct becomes the "kind" field when encoding.
 func (s *Scheme) AddKnownTypes(version string, types ...interface{}) {
 	knownTypes, found := s.versionMap[version]
 	if !found {
@@ -95,8 +95,12 @@ func (s *Scheme) AddKnownTypes(version string, types ...interface{}) {
 	}
 	for _, obj := range types {
 		t := reflect.TypeOf(obj)
+		if t.Kind() != reflect.Ptr {
+			panic("All types must be pointers to structs.")
+		}
+		t = t.Elem()
 		if t.Kind() != reflect.Struct {
-			panic("All types must be structs.")
+			panic("All types must be pointers to structs.")
 		}
 		knownTypes[t.Name()] = t
 		s.typeToVersion[t] = version
diff --git a/pkg/conversion/scheme_test.go b/pkg/conversion/scheme_test.go
index 0f4d7f2a4e1..c8232ff4ea6 100644
--- a/pkg/conversion/scheme_test.go
+++ b/pkg/conversion/scheme_test.go
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ func externalTypeReturn() interface{} {
 		O                                     *TestType2           `yaml:"O,omitempty" json:"O,omitempty"`
 		P                                     []TestType2          `yaml:"Q,omitempty" json:"Q,omitempty"`
 	}
-	return TestType1{}
+	return &TestType1{}
 }
 
 type ExternalInternalSame struct {
@@ -124,8 +124,8 @@ var TestObjectFuzzer = fuzz.New().NilChance(.5).NumElements(1, 100).Funcs(
 // Returns a new Scheme set up with the test objects.
 func GetTestScheme() *Scheme {
 	s := NewScheme()
-	s.AddKnownTypes("", TestType1{}, ExternalInternalSame{})
-	s.AddKnownTypes("v1", externalTypeReturn(), ExternalInternalSame{})
+	s.AddKnownTypes("", &TestType1{}, &ExternalInternalSame{})
+	s.AddKnownTypes("v1", externalTypeReturn(), &ExternalInternalSame{})
 	s.ExternalVersion = "v1"
 	s.InternalVersion = ""
 	s.MetaInsertionFactory = testMetaInsertionFactory{}