I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is best known as an iconic tough guy. Yet, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the late 20th century, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this holiday season.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to track down a criminal. Throughout the movie, the investigation plot serves as a loose framework for the star to film humorous interactions with kids. The most unforgettable belongs to a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and declares the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films on the horizon. Additionally, he is a regular on popular culture events. Not long ago recalled his recollections from the filming of the classic over three decades on.

Memories from the Set

Interviewer: First, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I think I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I can't remember being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're snapshots. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there for a very short time, deliver a quick line they wanted and that's all. My parents would help me learn the words and then, once I learned to read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him?

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was good-natured, which arguably stands to reason. It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

“It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a major movie star because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. That was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your experience as being positive?

You know, it's interesting, that movie is such a landmark. It was a huge film, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original 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 older kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word shocking meant, but I knew it was provocative and it got a big laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given approval in this case because it was comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "I need to consider this, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.