Due to the Newseum’s increasingly bleak financial status, the museum has turned to a classy, fictional messiah—Ron Burgundy—to draw some crowds.

The “Anchorman” exhibit opened Nov. 14 and will be on display through next summer. It’s based entirely on the 2004 comedy, and its sequel coming Dec. 18.

The Newseum is using Will Ferrell’s awkwardly oblivious protagonist Ron Burgundy to teach museum-goers about the truths behind the movie and news broadcasting, while giving them a good laugh at the same time.

The exhibit stems from years of successive layoffs and financial trouble at the Newseum, leading to a deal with Paramount Pictures that would be mutually beneficial.

The museum mostly focuses on First Amendment rights and educating viewers on the history of journalism, but according to Newseum spokesperson Jonathan Thompson, the “Anchorman” exhibit serves a different purpose.

“It’s meant to bring new eyes to some of the serious exhibitions,” Thompson said in an interview with the Washington Post. “It’s a little sugar to draw people in.”

While fairly small, the exhibit contains many real props from the movie, including Burgundy’s burgundy suit, his jazz flute, and a whip used by a Spanish T.V. anchor in the well-remembered all-out news team brawl.

Along with props and wardrobe pieces, the exhibit displays brief panels entitled “The Real Story,” which back up the news-themed satire with real data, such as the fact that “women made major inroads in T.V. news in the 1970s.”

Along with the feministic approach and 1970s news data, however, an entire wall merely says, “our lips are sealed…and so is this exhibit case until Tuesday, Dec. 17.”

This worked to increase the hype for the coming sequel.

The prevalent advertising for the “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” works towards Paramount’s end of the deal, according to the Washington Post article. Paramount also gets a portion of the proceeds from the “Anchorman”-themed apparel and trinkets in the gift shop.

According to Thompson, 2013 has been “a splendid year of progress” for the Newseum.

“As of October, we’ve seen an increase in attendance of more than 8 percent,” he said.

The mixture of entertainment and education may be a fresh kickstart for the Newseum, and could help them out of their troublesome rut. Until next time, you stay classy Whitman.