I'm Known As the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. For much of the movie, the procedural element acts as a loose framework for Arnold to share adorable scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout involves a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and states the actor, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career featured a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with a slate of movies on the horizon. He also is a regular on fan conventions. Not long ago recalled his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop 35 years later.

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 most junior of all the kids on set.

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

Yeah, somewhat. They're flashes. They're like mental photographs.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all patiently queue, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, once I learned to read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was nice, which arguably isn't too surprising. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

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

I knew he was a major movie star because my family informed me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being positive?

You know, it's funny, that movie is such a landmark. It was a major production, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the big craze, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would bring me their Game Boys to pass certain levels on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it was conceived, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, presumably 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 really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she felt it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.