I'm Known As the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Candid Conversation.

The action icon is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. Yet, in the midst of his star power in the late 20th century, he also starred in several critically acclaimed comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Story and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. For much of the story, the crime storyline acts as a basic structure for Arnold to have charming moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger deadpans, “Thanks for the tip.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with several projects in development. He also is a regular on fan conventions. Not long ago recalled his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

Memories from the Set

Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set.

That's remarkable, I don't recall being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like visual recollections.

Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was some of the first material I was reading.

Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which I suppose isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

“It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a huge celebrity because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the must-have gadget, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also received a genuine metal whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being positive?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would ask for my help to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I understood it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given an exception in this case because it was funny.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it originated, based on what I was told, was they were still developing characters. Some character lines were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it was more of a collaboration, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took some time. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she believed it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.