Where Are They Now? Here's What Kyle Craven, Better Known As The Meme 'Bad Luck Brian,' Has Been Up To Since His 'Advice Animals' Fame

Back in 2012, a goofy high school yearbook photo of Kyle Craven hit Reddit. The photo featured him wearing a painfully unstylish vest while sporting ruby red cheeks and a grin that screams "fail!"

Within hours, "Bad Luck Brian" became the poster child for hilariously catastrophic misfortune. From failing tests to ill-fated social encounters, Brian embodied every facepalm-worthy scenario imaginable, cementing his spot in internet folklore forever.

Kyle Craven, however, turned this viral whirlwind into a surprisingly lucrative gig as one of the first "meme celebrities" or "meme influencers." From ad campaigns to selling meme-themed merch (and even NFTs), Craven’s awkward past became his marketing goldmine.

So, how has he managed to keep this ancient meme relevant while juggling a career in construction? Here’s a look at how Bad Luck Brian’s "curse" turned into Kyle’s real-life win.

Who Is Kyle Craven And What's The Backstory Behind The 'Bad Luck Brian' Meme?

Kyle Craven, better known online as "Bad Luck Brian," is the man behind one of the internet's earliest meme legends. He's best known for his awkward high school yearbook photo in which he can be seen red-faced and puffy-eyed sporting a grand underbite, a set of braces and an ugly sweater to match.

The Advice Animals meme was hugely popular in the early 2010s, with Kyle's face being slapped onto memes that describe great misfortune befalling the character internet users were convinced he was in real life.

The Bad Luck Brian meme made Kyle the poster child of hilarious misfortune, used to represent every "why me?" moment and absurd bad-luck scenario, turning him into a walking embodiment of Murphy’s Law.

But according to his 2020 interview with Know Your Meme, the Bad Luck Brian photo was entirely planned and orchestrated by Kyle and his friends.

Kyle Craven told us that the photo was taken when he was a sophomore in high school when he and his friends were on a mission to get the ugliest photos of them possible into the school yearbook.

To do so, Kyle went down to the thrift store and picked up an ugly vest, rubbed his face till it was all red and swollen, and gave his photographer his worst, underbite-heavy smile possible.

I went down to the thrift store and got that sweater vest, then picked a purple background on purpose. I'm getting up there [to the photoshoot], and I'm rubbing my eyes like crazy so they got nice and swollen. I was trying not to laugh too, like half the battle was trying not to crack up cause me and my buddies were all there. So I do the underbite smile, take the picture and the lady's face was just like “Jesus Christ. Who is this kid?”

Of course, he and his friends were caught by the school principal about a month later when photos were handed out to other students, and he was eventually forced to retake the photo, but not before he got a chance to take the original home and scan it for his Facebook.

How Did the Bad Luck Brian Meme First Go Viral, and What Did Kyle Think About His Initial Fame?

The failed yearbook prank photo remained dormant on Kyle Craven's Facebook profile for several years, until one day in early 2012 when his prankster in arms Ian Davies uploaded the photo as an image macro to Reddit's /r/adviceanimals with the caption, "Takes driving test… gets first DUI."

The photo was meant to be an inside joke, but it became an accidental internet sensation over the following months, with Kyle’s goofy grin and unfortunate appearance morphing into the face of hilarious calamity.

Between early 2012 and 2014, Kyle’s goofy mug became a staple of internet humor as it spread across the web — the comedic punchline for every relatable worst-case scenario.

Kyle's reaction? Equal parts bemused and bewildered. At first, he thought the meme would fizzle out in a week, but as he kept seeing new iterations of the meme appearing online, he began to realize how impactful of an internet joke he had become.

Kyle Craven knew that the meme depicted a character he and his friends had intentionally created for the purpose of grabbing a few laughs, and he never took the Bad Luck Brian memes personally. On the contrary, he embraced the madness, even creating social media accounts to cash in on the phenomenon.

I really didn't put too much thought into it, you know? I thought it was funny, but then when it didn't die and it was just getting bigger and bigger, it was kind of overwhelming. Like “holy s---, this is really, really taking off now.” So there was definitely a shock factor for a few weeks and then it just, over time, became normal.

His family, meanwhile, didn't really understand the concept of a meme or his role in the matter. Kyle recounted to us in our interview how his family would come across his face online and think that he wrote each individual mean caption about himself.

Apparently, the singular popularity of Bad Luck Brian didn't really sink in for his schoolteacher mother until one of her students turned up to school in a Bad Luck Brian shirt, completely unknowing that his teacher was "Brian's" mom.

How Did Bad Luck Brian Capitalize On His Meme Fame?

Kyle Craven leaned into his unexpected internet fame with humor and opportunism. He attended VidCon and other conventions, rubbing shoulders with fellow meme royalty like Overly Attached Girlfriend (Laina Morris).

He’s joked about occasionally being recognized but appreciates that his "meme face" doesn't look a whole lot like his everyday face.

But Kyle Craven didn't just laugh along with his meme fame — he cashed in. Bad Luck Brian made surprise appearances in ad campaigns for brands like Volkswagen and McDonald’s, proving that his unlucky mug had serious marketing charm.

Whether it was selling burgers or cars, Kyle’s face became the perfect comedic shorthand for a humorous dose of schadenfreude.

Beyond big-brand deals, Kyle dabbled in novelty merch: T-shirts, stuffed animals and even a short-lived board game concept. Kyle told us back in 2020, "We found out early on that the way to make money off the meme is to license the image. So that's where we started."

This remains the key difference between Kyle and many other meme figures: He actively shaped his meme’s narrative, taking full ownership of Bad Luck Brian while balancing his family and his day job.

What Has Kyle Craven, AKA Bad Luck Brian, Been Up To In Recent Years

Kyle Craven has continued to embrace his meme fame in fun and often lucrative ways in recent years. In 2021, Craven sold a Bad Luck Brian NFT for 20 ETH, or an impressive $36,000. This move no doubt incentivized other early internet meme legends to follow suit and mint their own NFTs during the crypto art craze.

Craven definitely seems to know how to market himself, and he's always at the forefront of any tech innovation that's well suited to his Bad Luck Brian character.

He keeps close tabs on his meme cohort as well, appearing with fellow internet stars like Scumbag Steve (Blake Boston) and the Awkward White People Smile (David Vujanić) meme personalities the 2024 DogeDay crypto event in Tokyo, Japan.

Craven still appears in the odd commercial as well. In 2023, he starred in an ad for The General Insurance alongside basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. The ad featured Craven channeling his iconic "unlucky" persona, showing that his ability to poke fun at himself has been key to his longevity as a meme icon.

Also in 2023, Craven appeared alongside pop and meme star Rebecca Black in a commercial for some limited-edition Heinz condiments.

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Where Can I Find Kyle Craven / Bad Luck Brian Today?

Outside of the spotlight, Kyle Craven balances his fame with his work as COO at his family's construction company. Craven began dating his high school sweetheart months before any of his internet shenanigans began, and he's grateful she and their two kids have stuck by him through all the trials and tribulations of meme fame.

During our interview with him, we asked Kyle if he had any words for his many fans out there, and he told us:

Don't take the internet too seriously. You never know, you might become a meme some day. People get offended easily on the internet and you really gotta take it as a joke.

Today, you can find Kyle Craven on his Instagram and Twitter / X, under the name @solidbadluck and on his YouTube channel under "BadLuckBrian."

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For the full history of Bad Luck Brian, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information. To see the rest of our "Where Are They Now" series, you can find them all here. Stay tuned for next week's editorial!