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

The action icon is rightfully celebrated as an iconic tough guy. But, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who masquerades as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. Throughout the story, the crime storyline acts as a simple backdrop for the star to share adorable moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout involves a child named Joseph, who unprompted announces and states the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was played by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects in development. Furthermore, he engages with fans at popular culture events. Recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic after all this time.

Memories from the Set

Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

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

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

Yeah, somewhat. They're snapshots. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. 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 was it. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which I suppose stands to reason. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. 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 that's what my parents told me, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful 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 tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your experience as being positive?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, 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 meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I knew it was provocative and it made adults 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 comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, presumably it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Let me think about it, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she wasn't sure, but she believed it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.