I Was the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

The action icon is best known as an iconic tough guy. Yet, at the height of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also headlined several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Role and That Line

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. For much of the film's runtime, the investigation plot acts as a loose framework for the star to have charming moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a student named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and states the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career included a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects in development. Furthermore, he engages with fans at fan conventions. He recently shared his experiences from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Q: To begin, 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 remarkable, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

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

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

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which arguably stands to reason. It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was great to work with.

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

I knew he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was incredibly giving. He purchased for each child in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. That 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 finally gave out. I also received a real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. 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 working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. Like, 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 brand new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would bring me their Game Boys to pass certain levels on games because I knew how, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it made adults laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given an exception in this case because it was comedic.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it came about, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it was more of a collaboration, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose it's either the director or producers 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, I need time" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she felt it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and history proved her correct.