Stings the Nostrils - In a Good Way — Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy in a grey suit, mid-sentence, seated in a 1970s-styled office in Anchorman.

Stings the Nostrils - In a Good Way

2004movie quoteclassic

Published September 29, 2026

A pair of quotable lines from the 2004 comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, spoken by Brian Fantana while pitching his Sex Panther cologne to Ron Burgundy1. The exchange, capped by the line 60% of the time, it works every time, became one of the film's most recycled bits online2.

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Overview

Stings the Nostrils - In a Good Way refers to a short exchange between news reporter Brian Fantana and anchorman Ron Burgundy in the 2004 Adam McKay comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy1. Fantana douses himself in a cologne called Sex Panther, insisting the burning sensation is a feature, not a bug, while Burgundy replies that it smells like pure gasoline1. Fantana then defends the product with the half-nonsense stat that 60% of the time, it works every time1.

Online the bit gets used two ways. People quote stings the nostrils to describe anything overpowering that they secretly enjoy, from strong drinks to pungent food to bad decisions2. The follow-up 60% of the time, it works every time is a standalone punchline about fake precision, unreliable products, or dubious statistics, and it circulates independently of the setup line2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Film (Anchorman) / YouTube (viral spread)
Date
2004

The lines come from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, released July 9, 2004, in a scene where Brian Fantana (played by Paul Rudd) shows Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) his cologne collection before trying to seduce Veronica Corningstone2. He settles on Sex Panther, described in the film as containing bits of real panther, and sprays it on despite Burgundy's warning1.

The scene was clipped and uploaded to YouTube in the years after release, where the original studio and fan copies racked up steady views and became the go-to shorthand for the quote1. Know Your Meme catalogued the exchange as a classic Anchorman quote, pairing stings the nostrils with the 60% stat as the two lines most often pulled from the scene2.

How It Spread

Anchorman was a modest theatrical hit that grew into a heavily quoted comedy through DVD and cable rotation, and the Sex Panther scene was one of the most excerpted bits online alongside I love lamp and I'm kind of a big deal2. Clips of the exchange circulated on YouTube, where the scene is embedded on the Know Your Meme entry as the reference video for the quote1.

Both halves of the joke moved into everyday speech. In a good way became a common ironic tag people append to a complaint to flip it into a compliment, and 60% of the time, it works every time is quoted as a self-aware joke about made-up statistics2. The 2013 sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues kept the original film's quotes in rotation by reintroducing the cast to a new audience2.

Timeline

2004-07-09

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy releases in theaters, containing the Sex Panther scene where Brian Fantana delivers the stings the nostrils and 60% of the time lines[2].

2011-04-12

A widely viewed YouTube upload of the original Sex Panther clip is posted, which Know Your Meme later embeds as the reference video for the quote[1].

2013-12-18

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues releases, refreshing interest in the original film's quotable bits including the Sex Panther scene[2].

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