I Am the ‘Penis and Vagina’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Look Back.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. Yet, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the late 20th century, he also delivered several genuinely hilarious comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who poses as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. For much of the film's runtime, the crime storyline functions as a simple backdrop for Schwarzenegger to film humorous scenes with children. The most unforgettable involves a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and informs the actor, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career featured a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the character of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he frequently attends the con circuit. He recently shared his recollections from the filming of the classic over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

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

That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. They're like visual recollections.

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

My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Frequently it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there briefly, read a small part they wanted and that's all. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was very kind. He was playful. He was nice, which I suppose isn't too surprising. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was great to work with.

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

I knew he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He gifted all the students in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it came about, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a short while. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it will probably be one of the most memorable lines from the movie and history proved her correct.