Bad Luck Brian

Examples

A different opinion gets downvotes — bad luck brian captioned variant.

A different opinion gets downvotes

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A different opinion gets downvotes

documented by Know Your Meme.

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Never caught Covid; vacation tests positive — bad luck brian captioned variant.

Never caught Covid; vacation tests positive

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Never caught Covid; vacation tests positive

documented by Know Your Meme.

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Plays in rock band: hand chimes — bad luck brian captioned variant.

Plays in rock band: hand chimes

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Plays in rock band: hand chimes

documented by Know Your Meme.

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Bad Luck Brian: “TRIES TO STEALTHILY FART IN CLASS / SHITS”.

The failed stealth attempt

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An attempt to avoid embarrassment becomes a much worse embarrassment. The caption is a fictional joke, not a claim about Kyle Craven.

2012-01-23

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Bad Luck Brian: “Takes driving test / Gets first DUI.”

A driving test with a very wrong result

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A driving test should lead to a licence. Here the very first milestone is already a driving-under-the-influence offence: the outcome arrives in exactly the wrong category.

Photograph depicts Kyle Craven.

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Bad Luck Brian: “Wins an Xbox 360 / Red ring of death.”

The prize is the problem

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Winning the console is only the setup. The hardware-failure punchline makes the prize itself the bad luck; Brian cannot even enjoy the win between the two lines.

Photograph depicts Kyle Craven.

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Bad Luck Brian: “Head hurts, goes to sleep / Head hurts more after waking up.”

Have you tried turning yourself off and on?

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Credit & details

Sleep is supposed to be the sensible solution. The bottom line makes it a failed troubleshooting step. This is a later example, archived in 2024, not an original 2012 post.

Photograph depicts Kyle Craven.

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About & sources

An awkward yearbook portrait anchors stories where even a reasonable choice ends in disaster. The joke compresses a setup and an unfair outcome into two caption lines.

Date

Yearbook photo predates meme; first recorded Reddit macro: January 23, 2012

History

Ian Davies posted the photograph of his friend Kyle to Reddit in January 2012. The character’s endless misfortune is a captioning convention, not evidence about the photographed person’s life.

Know Your Meme — Bad Luck Brian
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Bad Luck Brian representative image