Brennan Lee Mulligan | |
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Born | New York City, U.S. | January 4, 1988
Education | SUNY Ulster (AA) School of Visual Arts (BFA) |
Occupations |
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Years active | 2012–present |
Employers | |
Spouse | Isabella Roland (m. 2023) |
Children | 1 |
Parents |
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Awards | Webby Award (2019) |
Website | brennanleemulligan |
Brennan Lee Mulligan (born January 4, 1988) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and gamemaster. He often works with Dropout (formerly CollegeHumor) as a writer, performer, and producer, and he is the creator and regular gamemaster for its Dungeons & Dragons -based actual play web series Dimension 20 . He also wrote the superhero webcomic Strong Female Protagonist alongside artist Molly Ostertag.
Brennan Lee Mulligan was born on January 4, 1988, in New York [1] as the son of Elaine Lee and Joe Mulligan. He is of Irish descent. [1] He was introduced to the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons by his mother at age nine, [2] first gamemastering at age ten. [3]
Mulligan was introduced to theatrical gaming while attending the Hudson Valley Beltane Festival at age eleven. [4] He started attending The Wayfinder Experience, a live-action role-playing summer camp, [5] spending much of his teenage years working as a lead story writer, performer, and camp counselor there. [3] [6] At age 15, Mulligan and his brother co-founded Bootleg Adventures, organizing one-day live-action role-playing games to introduce children to theatrical gaming. [4] In an interview with the Times-Herald Record , a 16-year-old Mulligan expressed conviction in theatrical gaming's potential to enable "kids [to] come out healthier beings than when they first arrive". [4]
In 2005, at 17 years old, Mulligan graduated from SUNY Ulster with an associate degree, [1] having majored in philosophy and humanities. [3] In 2009, Mulligan graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in screenwriting. [7] [8]
Mulligan and Molly Ostertag co-created the webcomic Strong Female Protagonist , which was named one of io9's Best New and Short Webcomics of 2012. [9] In 2015, Strong Female Protagonist won an Autostraddle Comic and Sequential Art Award. [10]
In 2017, Mulligan joined CollegeHumor as a writer for Um, Actually: The Web Series. [11] In 2018, CollegeHumor's streaming service Dropout launched Um, Actually as a game show, with Mulligan continuing to write for the show until 2020. [12] Mulligan was also a writer for several scripted shows on Dropout, including the Star Wars parody space saga Troopers, [13] and the mockumentary Gods of Food. [14] [15]
In 2023, Mulligan was a writer for Foul Play, an interactive murder mystery series created by Andrew Barth Feldman and Alex Boniello. [16] [17]
In his twenties, he performed and taught [3] comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB). [6] It was working at the UCB that led Mulligan to working at CollegeHumor, [3] (premiering on December 14, 2017, with Who's the Real Cop?). [18]
Since 2018, [19] Mulligan has been an executive producer, writer, and gamemaster for Dimension 20 on Dropout (which also hosts his video podcast, Adventuring Academy). [2] In his capacity as a professional D&D gamemaster, he has been cited by Bleeding Cool , [20] Comic Book Resources , [21] Wired, [22] and Wizards of the Coast's own Dungeons & Dragons podcast—Dragon Talk. [3] Glen Weldon, in a review of Dimension 20 for NPR, commented that "Mulligan is such a good DM and he's got so many improv skills. He's such a close and responsive listener that no matter what the players throw at him, he can always roll with it, without breaking the game. And that is a very rare skill, so it's terrific stuff". [23] Mulligan was the Dungeon Master for Exandria Unlimited: Calamity , a weekly, four-part actual play web series spin-off of Critical Role that premiered on May 26, 2022. [24] [25] In January 2023, it was announced that Mulligan, along with Erika Ishii, Aabria Iyengar, and Lou Wilson, will star in the creator-owned actual play podcast Worlds Beyond Number . [26] [27] The show launched on March 1, 2023 and quickly became one of the top 20 Patreon accounts in the world. [28]
He has received an "Excellence in Performance Award" from the New York International Fringe Festival, [29] and won a 2019 Webby Award in the "Comedy: Shortform" category for his CollegeHumor skit, Tide CEO: You Gotta Stop Eating Tide Pods. [30]
Mulligan is the godson of comics artist and writer Michael Kaluta. [31] In November 2015, Mulligan was a contestant on the American version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won $50,000 after incorrectly answering the $100,000-question. [32]
By 2020, he lived in Los Angeles. [21] On January 21, 2021, Mulligan announced his engagement to his fiancée, Izzy Roland, via Instagram. [33] They married on April 1, 2023. [34] [35] On January 23, 2024, Brennan announced the birth of his and Roland's first child, a daughter, on the Patreon for the podcast Worlds Beyond Number. [36]
Politically, Mulligan is a socialist. [37] In August 2023, during the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Mulligan led a Dungeons & Dragons-themed picket day at Universal Studios where the final boss was AMPTiamat. [38] [39]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? | Himself | 2 episodes |
2018–2019 | Adam Ruins Everything | Supporting roles | 2 episodes; "Adam Ruins Music", "Adam Ruins Guns" |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Locke & Key | Tyler (voice) | Audio drama | [40] |
2013 | Teacher's Lounge | Matt | [40] | |
2017–2020 | CollegeHumor Originals | Various | [18] [41] | |
2017 | Fallen For You | Todd | Pilot released on YouTube | [42] |
2018–present | Dimension 20 | Dungeon Master, various | Also creator, executive producer | [43] [44] [45] |
2018 | Liverspots and Astronots | Lancery (voice), various | [15] | |
2019–present | Adventuring Academy | Himself | [46] | |
Game Changer | Himself | Also executive producer | ||
2019–2022 | Mission to Zyxx | Kor Balevore (voice) | 318: "Malice in Chains" 501: "O Others, Who Art Thou?!" 503: "Good Spot Hunting" 505: "Being Jawn Malevolent" 507: "A Little Ditty 'Bout Jakk and Shai'An" 512: "A Noob Hope" 515: "Gary's Home Companion" 520: "The Whole Mufalata" 521: "The Ass End" | [47] |
2019 | The Adventure Zone: The Dadlands | Game Master | [48] | |
Ultramechatron Team Go! | Galatax | [49] | ||
2020 | Rude Tales of Magic | Kreedis (voice) | Episode: "Mountaintop" | [50] |
2021 | Hello from the Magic Tavern | Kalhaxorus the Grim (voice) | Episode: "Death Knight" | [51] |
L.A. by Night | Adrian Clairmont | Episode: "Live on the Moon", Episode: "Reign in Hell" | [52] [53] | |
Battle for Beyond | Nikhil | [54] [55] | ||
2022–present | Make Some Noise | Himself | Also executive producer | |
2022 | Critical Role (one-shots) | Brigidda | Episode: "Elden Ring One-Shot: O Ye of Little Faith" | [56] |
Legends of the Multiverse | Dungeon Master | [57] | ||
Roll20 10 year Anniversary stream | Citizen Doctor Abraham Mehermblur | 3 episodes; "D&D Strixhaven", "D&D Chaos", "D&D Chaos 3" | [58] | |
Exandria Unlimited: Calamity | Dungeon Master | 4 episodes | [59] | |
2023–present | Worlds Beyond Number (The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One) | Dungeon Master | Creator-owned podcast | [26] [27] [60] |
2023 | Candela Obscura (The Circle of Needle & Thread) | Sean Finnerty | 3 episodes | [61] [62] |
2024 | Critical Role (campaign 3) | Dungeon Master | Episode: "The Nox Engine", Episodes: "Downfall Parts 1–3" | [63] [64] [65] |
Very Important People | Augbert | Episode: "Augbert" | [66] | |
Bigger! With Brennan and Izzy | Himself | Improv special | [67] [35] | |
The Adventure Zone: Abnimals | Sgt. Salamander | Podcast; Episode: "Bunny Heist!" | [68] | |
99% Invisible | Himself | Podcast; Episode: "Brennan Lee Mulligan" | [69] | |
CH Media, doing business as Dropout, is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles which produces content for release on its streaming service, Dropout, and on YouTube. It was originally founded as the CollegeHumor website, created by Josh Abramson and Ricky Van Veen in 1999, and was owned by InterActiveCorp (IAC) from 2006 until January 2020, when IAC withdrew funding and the website shut down. The current CEO of CH Media is Sam Reich, a veteran performer and former Chief Creative Officer of CollegeHumor, who purchased the company in 2020 from IAC. In September 2023, the company formally dropped the CollegeHumor branding in favor of its Dropout branding, which originated with its streaming service.
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a fantasy role-playing game first published in 1974. As the popularity of the game grew throughout the late-1970s and 1980s, it became referenced in popular culture more frequently. The complement of games, films and cultural references based on Dungeons & Dragons or similar fantasies, characters, and adventures became ubiquitous after the end of the 1970s.
Matthew Christopher Miller, better known as Matthew Mercer, is an American actor and game designer. He has provided voice work for cartoons, animations, video games, and English dubs of anime.
Critical Role is an American web series in which a group of professional voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. The show started streaming partway through the cast's first campaign in March 2015. Campaign one ended in October 2017 after 115 episodes, and campaign two started in January 2018 and ended in June 2021 after 141 episodes. A number of one-shots were aired in the hiatus between the two campaigns. After campaign two was completed, the spin-off limited series Exandria Unlimited aired from June 2021 to August 2021. The third campaign premiered on October 21, 2021.
The Adventure Zone is a weekly comedy and adventure actual play podcast, in which the McElroy family play Dungeons & Dragons along with other role-playing games. The show is distributed by the Maximum Fun network and hosted by brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy, and their father Clint McElroy. Regular episodes of the podcast feature the family solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and leveling up their characters in a series of cinematic and humorous encounters.
Siobhan Thompson is a British-American comedian and writer. She is known for her work on the CollegeHumor Originals web series and for her roles on Dropout's Dimension 20. She has appeared in other programmes such as Adam Ruins Everything and Broad City. She was also a staff writer for Adult Swim's Rick and Morty and as of 2024 a writer on Krapopolis.
Emily Joanne Axford is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is best known for her various roles in CollegeHumor videos, her role as Emily on the truTV comedy Adam Ruins Everything, and for her role on the Pop original Hot Date.
Dropout is an American comedy subscription streaming service run by the production company of the same name, founded in September 2018. Dropout streams original programming, and does not run advertisements. Its content is mainly composed of live play, such as Dimension 20 hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan, and improv comedy and panel shows like Game Changer and Make Some Noise, both hosted by Dropout owner Sam Reich. Dropout's series often feature a rotating cast of regular comedians and performers.
Critical Role Productions, LLC is a multimedia production company incorporated in 2015 by the members of the creator-owned streaming show Critical Role. The company's first two shows, Critical Role and Talks Machina, originally premiered on Geek & Sundry. The company moved to its own studio space in 2018 and began producing new shows on its Twitch and YouTube channels. A split from Legendary Digital Networks was completed in early 2019, at which point Critical Role Productions took over production responsibility. Since then, the company has continued to launch new shows independently.
Dimension 20 is a tabletop role-playing game show produced by and broadcast on Dropout, and created and generally hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show's regular Dungeon Master. Most of the games use Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. Long seasons, featuring a core cast of players in seventeen or more episodes, are interspersed with shorter side quests, featuring a rotating cast in ten or fewer episodes.
The Legend of Vox Machina is an American adult animated fantasy action television series produced by Metapigeon, Titmouse, Inc., and Amazon Studios, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video on January 28, 2022. The series is based on the first campaign of the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role. It stars Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer, Liam O'Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham, reprising their roles from the campaign.
Erika Ishii is an American voice actor and host. They are best known as the voice of video game characters such as Valkyrie in Apex Legends, and for their appearances in actual play web series including L.A. by Night and Dimension 20.
Actual play, also called live play, is a genre of podcast or web show in which people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual play often encompasses in-character interactions between players, storytelling from the gamemaster, and out-of-character engagements such as dice rolls and discussion of game mechanics. The genre emerged in the early 2000s and became more popular throughout the decade, particularly with the 2015 debut of Critical Role, an actual play webseries featuring professional voice actors.
The third campaign of the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role premiered on October 21, 2021; it is set after the conclusion of the second campaign and Exandria Unlimited. The series stars Marisha Ray, Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Liam O'Brien, Taliesin Jaffe, and Sam Riegel as the players with Matthew Mercer as the Dungeon Master. Campaign three airs each Thursday at 7 p.m. PT on Critical Role Productions' Twitch and YouTube channels and the Beacon streaming service except for the last Thursday of each month.
Exandria Unlimited (ExU) is an American actual play anthology web series where the cast plays Dungeons & Dragons using the fifth edition ruleset. It is set in the Exandria campaign setting and is a spin-off of the web series Critical Role.
Zachery Lou Wilson is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his work as a writer and his roles on actual play anthology web series Dimension 20 and the creator-owned podcast Worlds Beyond Number. He is also known for being the on-air announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live! and his roles on American Vandal, The King of Staten Island, and The Guest Book.
Aabria Iyengar is an American web series actress known primarily for tabletop role-playing game anthologies, streams and podcasts. She was the Dungeon Master (DM) for the first season of Exandria Unlimited. Iyengar has been both a player and a Game Master for multiple seasons of Dimension 20 and a guest DM on The Adventure Zone.
Misfits and Magic is the tenth season of Dimension 20, an actual play anthology web series which features various tabletop role-playing games. It aired from June 30, 2021 to July 21, 2021 on Dropout with two specials released in December 2021 and August 2022. The season was reviewed favorably, with a sequel season premiering on September 25, 2024 as the 23rd season of Dimension 20.
Worlds Beyond Number is an actual play audio drama podcast created by Erika Ishii, Aabria Iyengar, Taylor Moore, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Lou Wilson and narrated by the same group. The first season was released to the public on March 1, 2023. The podcast is produced by publisher Fortunate Horse. Paid Patreon subscribers are able to enjoy exclusive content only produced on that platform.
Ally Beardsley is an American actor and comedian. They are best known for their roles in various Dropout productions, such as CollegeHumor Originals, Game Changer, and Total Forgiveness. They are also known for their roles in Dropout's Dungeons & Dragons actual play Dimension 20, where they have played a variety of LGBTQ+ characters.
Actor, writer, and Dungeon Master Brennan Lee Mulligan on the benefit of obstacles and limitations, the intersection of art and commercial products, and the power of world building.
Dimension 20's Brennan Lee Mulligan tells CBR about the process of returning to The Unsleeping City, an urban fantasy set in magical New York.
D&D can look difficult to get into, but with the right tools and a community you can vibe with, it's much easier than it looks.