How About No?

1999catchphraseclassic

Published August 28, 2026

How About No? is Dr. Evil's dismissive comeback from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999, delivered by Mike Myers as a slow, sarcastic shutdown of his son's plan1. Urban Dictionary logged the retort by 20052, and the line later fused with a photograph of a black bear with paws outstretched to spawn a popular dismissal image macro across 2010s Reddit, Tumblr and 9gag.

dismissal memescatchphrase memesmovie quote memesreaction memesimage macro memes

Overview

How About No? works on two tracks. The audio version leans on Mike Myers' Dr. Evil delivery from Austin Powers, a drawn out, sarcastic 'how about... no?' aimed at any suggestion the speaker finds absurd1. Urban Dictionary logged the phrase in 2005 with a definition that frames it as an incredulous 'what were you thinking' shove back at the other person2.

The visual half of the meme is the How About No Bear, a photograph of a black bear standing upright with both front paws pushed forward, palms facing the camera, like a bouncer waving you off4. People pair the bear with the phrase to reject a request or an argument without engaging, and the same image also gets used solo as an all-purpose 'nope'. On text-only replies the line does the same job without any image at all.

Origin & Background

Platform
Austin Powers film (source) / message boards + Flickr (viral spread)
Creator
Mike Myers
Date
1999

The catchphrase predates the film. An early televised version of the line turns up in a MacGyver episode that aired November 23, 1987, in a scene set at a college campus physics competition3. It broke through with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999, in an exchange where Scott Evil (Seth Green) suggests his father just shoot Austin Powers with a pistol while he isn't expecting it, and Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) draws out a long, mock consideration before answering 'how about no?' instead1.

How It Spread

Urban Dictionary picked up the phrase in 2005 and cataloged it as a hostile 'no' aimed at a bad idea, with example entries treating it as flat out incredulity2. The image side of the meme showed up on December 14, 2006, when a photo of a black bear with paws outstretched was uploaded to Flickr; it drifted onto humor blog My Confined Space in April 2007 and turned up on Fark by 2008, and a Dr. Evil screencap version was added to Threadbombing in April 20084.

The macro had a second wind around 2012, popping back up on 9gag and We Know Memes and drawing more than 1,000 submissions to a Quickmeme generator built around the bear photo by mid-2013. Reddit ran with the format too, with a 'how about no' dog on r/Funny in May 2012 and a sloth GIF on r/sloths in March 2013, while Instagram saw over 19,000 photos tagged #howaboutno by the time the meme was cataloged4.

How to Use This Meme

Reach for How About No? when you want to shut down a suggestion, request or take without arguing. Common conventions include dropping the phrase as a bare text reply, posting the Dr. Evil screencap with the line captioned across it, or using the How About No Bear image macro (a black bear standing on its hind legs with both paws forward) as a wordless refusal. The tone is meant to sound patronizing, not angry, echoing Mike Myers' original delivery.

Frequently Asked Questions

How About No?

1999catchphraseclassic

Published August 28, 2026

How About No? is Dr. Evil's dismissive comeback from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999, delivered by Mike Myers as a slow, sarcastic shutdown of his son's plan1. Urban Dictionary logged the retort by 20052, and the line later fused with a photograph of a black bear with paws outstretched to spawn a popular dismissal image macro across 2010s Reddit, Tumblr and 9gag.

dismissal memes catchphrase memes movie quote memes reaction memes image macro memes

Overview

How About No? works on two tracks. The audio version leans on Mike Myers' Dr. Evil delivery from Austin Powers, a drawn out, sarcastic 'how about... no?' aimed at any suggestion the speaker finds absurd1. Urban Dictionary logged the phrase in 2005 with a definition that frames it as an incredulous 'what were you thinking' shove back at the other person2.

The visual half of the meme is the How About No Bear, a photograph of a black bear standing upright with both front paws pushed forward, palms facing the camera, like a bouncer waving you off4. People pair the bear with the phrase to reject a request or an argument without engaging, and the same image also gets used solo as an all-purpose 'nope'. On text-only replies the line does the same job without any image at all.

Origin & Background

Platform
Austin Powers film (source) / message boards + Flickr (viral spread)
Creator
Mike Myers
Date
1999

The catchphrase predates the film. An early televised version of the line turns up in a MacGyver episode that aired November 23, 1987, in a scene set at a college campus physics competition3. It broke through with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999, in an exchange where Scott Evil (Seth Green) suggests his father just shoot Austin Powers with a pistol while he isn't expecting it, and Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) draws out a long, mock consideration before answering 'how about no?' instead1.

How It Spread

Urban Dictionary picked up the phrase in 2005 and cataloged it as a hostile 'no' aimed at a bad idea, with example entries treating it as flat out incredulity2. The image side of the meme showed up on December 14, 2006, when a photo of a black bear with paws outstretched was uploaded to Flickr; it drifted onto humor blog My Confined Space in April 2007 and turned up on Fark by 2008, and a Dr. Evil screencap version was added to Threadbombing in April 20084.

The macro had a second wind around 2012, popping back up on 9gag and We Know Memes and drawing more than 1,000 submissions to a Quickmeme generator built around the bear photo by mid-2013. Reddit ran with the format too, with a 'how about no' dog on r/Funny in May 2012 and a sloth GIF on r/sloths in March 2013, while Instagram saw over 19,000 photos tagged #howaboutno by the time the meme was cataloged4.

How to Use This Meme

Reach for How About No? when you want to shut down a suggestion, request or take without arguing. Common conventions include dropping the phrase as a bare text reply, posting the Dr. Evil screencap with the line captioned across it, or using the How About No Bear image macro (a black bear standing on its hind legs with both paws forward) as a wordless refusal. The tone is meant to sound patronizing, not angry, echoing Mike Myers' original delivery.

Frequently Asked Questions