--- title: The Eric Stonestreet Modern Family Meme Says Everything description: Old photos of Eric Stonestreet's character Cam on Modern Family have become never-ending meme fodder canonical: https://time.com/6325529/eric-stonestreet-modern-family-meme/ author: Moises Mendez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-18T18:33:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T16:33:24.129Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Eric Stonestreet Modern Family Meme Takes Over og:description: Old photos of Eric Stonestreet's character Cam on Modern Family have become never-ending meme fodder og:url: https://time.com/6325529/eric-stonestreet-modern-family-meme/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta753c23982504da7/698a415816d8845995c3c582/eric-stonestreet-tiktok.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: eric-stonestreet-tiktok og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eric Stonestreet Modern Family Meme Takes Over twitter:description: Old photos of Eric Stonestreet's character Cam on Modern Family have become never-ending meme fodder twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta753c23982504da7/698a415816d8845995c3c582/eric-stonestreet-tiktok.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Eric Stonestreet's _Modern Family_ Photos Have Become the New Kevin James Meme  by [Moises Mendez](/author/moises-mendez-ii/)  ## Moises Mendez Oct 18, 2023 6:33 PM CUT  Eric Stonestreet’s promotional photos as Cameron Tucker in Modern Family have gone viral Eric Stonestreet’s promotional photos as Cameron Tucker in Modern Family have gone viralStonestreet: Bob D’Amico—ABC/Getty Images (2); iPhone: Getty Images  by [Moises Mendez](/author/moises-mendez-ii/)  ## Moises Mendez Oct 18, 2023 6:33 PM CUT What was once the Internet’s obsession with tracking the “white boys of the month”—as in, bestowing the title to conventionally attractive white males like Timothee Chalamet or Logan Lerman—has morphed into something else: “favorite sitcom dads.” Last month, a [meme of Kevin James took over social media](https://time.com/6317579/kevin-james-meme/ "undefined") as users flooded X (formerly Twitter) with promotional photos of James from his run on the show _King of Queens_. In the same way, the actor Eric Stonestreet, known for playing Cam on _Modern Family_, has gone viral on TikTok thanks to a collection of promotional photos that provide a never-ending well of memes. On TikTok, users take an array of photos of Stonestreet as Cam—characterized by his colorful shirts and posing through every range of expression—and make a carousel to the tune of “Mia & Sebastian’s Theme” from _La La Land_, adding their own captions to the videos. Stonestreet as Cam posing every which way through the promotional photo shoot has provided away for people to express everything, from how they react to the prospect of [“sweet treats”](https://www.tiktok.com/@aly.booth/video/7289861686771649835?%5Fd=secCgYIASAHKAESPgo8bDQZt88JBTo9pzJXFRRyxgxEFXB577SAxU2xB3lC%2FjPSkofD7qPsxkmotVEHoluAt5y9engCTQjTxkCkGgA%3D&%5Fr=1&checksum=1702e491b65a0a866b11346e2da62ef65830e9d550bf128e15aba8433959e392&preview%5Fpb=0&sec%5Fuser%5Fid=MS4wLjABAAAAqhOxz8wVxotpGJ14EWdozlDFmEBpZzJhVr8FDGcgglc6p5kxOy4Cm4xN5oXBgiez&share%5Fapp%5Fid=1233&share%5Fitem%5Fid=7289861686771649835&share%5Flink%5Fid=8EB2B77A-341A-403F-B924-97E0580ED164&sharer%5Flanguage=en&social%5Fshare%5Ftype=14&source=h5%5Fm×tamp=1697643441&tt%5Ffrom=copy&u%5Fcode=d8ljbh01g441m3&ug%5Fbtm=b0%2Cb2878&user%5Fid=6748606953477702662&utm%5Fcampaign=client%5Fshare&utm%5Fmedium=ios&utm%5Fsource=copy "undefined") or [ways that people annoy their roommates](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8hbDe1k/ "undefined"). The exact origins of the trend are difficult to place. The Internet’s archivist, _KnowYourMeme_, points to TikTok user @harrier.dubois as the earliest adopter of the trend. “Each day is worse than the last,” the caption reads on the June 13th post. The post has since amassed over 590,000 views and over 2,000 comments and seems to have laid the groundwork for the Stonestreet meme to flourish. Earlier this month, the meme found its way over to X by way of a few viral tweets. One, featuring Stonestreet in a 2011 photo smiling at the camera, holding his hands together, with one foot angled slightly outwards, reads: “Me waiting for the bartender to look at me so I can order my drink.” The post went viral and racked up over 300,000 likes in three days, _KnowYourMeme_ writes. > [](https://twitter.com/kermeq/status/1710042172811268425?s=46&t=VzJZPOsO8IJKT4D9a96LyQ) > [](https://twitter.com/ycsm1n/status/1709032281212649492) The meme eventually made its way to Stonestreet himself, who got in on the joke, too, with an Instagram post of one of the promotional photos and a caption reading, “Me really just making every face I can think of to make this 2011 photoshoot end.” He acknowledged the popularity of the meme and wrote in the caption, “Since people are ‘meming’ this old pic of me, I figured I’d make one too. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6325529/eric-stonestreet-modern-family-meme/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6325529/eric-stonestreet-modern-family-meme/"},"headline":"Eric Stonestreet's Modern Family Photos Have Become the New Kevin James Meme","datePublished":"2023-10-18T18:33:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T16:33:24.129Z","description":"Old photos of Eric Stonestreet's character Cam on Modern Family have become never-ending meme fodder","url":"https://time.com/6325529/eric-stonestreet-modern-family-meme/","keywords":["internet culture","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta753c23982504da7/698a415816d8845995c3c582/eric-stonestreet-tiktok.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Moises Mendez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/moises-mendez-ii/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta753c23982504da7/698a415816d8845995c3c582/eric-stonestreet-tiktok.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"eric-stonestreet-tiktok","caption":"Eric Stonestreet posing in Modern Family promo photos, displayed on two phones","creditText":"Stonestreet: Bob D’Amico—ABC/Getty Images (2); iPhone: Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/internet-culture/","name":"internet culture"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6325529/eric-stonestreet-modern-family-meme/","name":"Eric Stonestreet's Modern Family Photos Have Become the New Kevin James Meme"}}]}] ```