Does anyone know how long people have been sarcastically saying "Stay classy!"? It seems like a pretty recent phenomenon to me; I can't recall hearing anyone use this phrase more than perhaps a few years back. I was thinking about this a few days ago when a certain cable news network (I won't say which one in order to keep things non-political) did something that made me think "Wow! Stay classy, [name of cable news channel]!"

Does the sarcastic use of "Stay classy!" have any connection to the movie Anchorman? In the movie, Ron Burgundy signs off by saying "Stay classy, San Diego!" (At one point, Ron Burgundy is tricked into reading the words "Go f**k yourself, San Diego!" off of the teleprompter.) Did this somehow mutate into the sarcastic phrase that's become commonplace now? I think that the movie would be an influential enough part of popular culture to introduce some catchphrases (I remember that the keynote speaker at my sister's college graduation described the members of the graduating class as "Kind of a big deal"). I'm just not sure how the phrase "Stay classy!" would have evolved into a sarcastic phrase.