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

The Austrian Oak is best known as an iconic tough guy. Yet, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who masquerades as a elementary educator to catch a killer. For much of the movie, the crime storyline serves as a basic structure for the star to film humorous moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous features a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and informs the stoic star, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was played by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a notable part on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. He also engages with fans at fan conventions. Not long ago discussed his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

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.

Wow, I don't recall being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like picture memories.

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

My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was good-natured, 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 likely wouldn't create a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I was aware he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was working hard, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. That was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's interesting, that movie is such a landmark. 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 collaborating with Schwarzenegger, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, 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 knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

That Famous Quote

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction 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 funny.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it originated, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, reportedly it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a short while. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she thought it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.