Bad Luck Brian

On January 23, 2012, Ian Davies posted his friend Kyle Craven's seventh-grade yearbook photo to Reddit. Kyle was wearing a sweater vest, braces gleaming, eyes slightly unfocused, radiating the particular energy of someone who had been told to smile and tried their absolute best. The caption read: "Takes driving test... gets first DUI."

Bad Luck Brian was born.

The format was simple: Kyle's magnificently unfortunate school photo paired with a setup and punchline describing increasingly absurd misfortune. The humor was dark, the photo was perfect, and the internet devoured it whole.

By March 2012, Bad Luck Brian had become one of the biggest Advice Animals on the internet. The meme accumulated thousands of variations, each one finding new depths of comedic suffering to pile onto Kyle's innocent shoulders.

The irony? Kyle Craven reported having remarkably good luck in real life. He won an Xbox 360 and PSP within two weeks of each other. He got recognized by Seth Rogen. He even played hand chimes in a rock band. The universe, it seemed, had a sense of humor.

The original photo was actually retaken because the principal thought Kyle was making the face on purpose. He wasn't. That was just his face. And for a brief, shining moment in 2012, it was the most relatable face on the internet.

Bad Luck Brian faded as Advice Animals gave way to newer formats, but Kyle Craven remains a legend—proof that sometimes the worst yearbook photo is actually the best thing that ever happened to you.