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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 | |
|---|---|
.png) Mulligan in 2021 | |
| Born | January 4, 1988 New York City, U.S. |
| Education | SUNY Ulster (AA) School of Visual Arts (BFA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Employers | |
| Spouse |
Isabella Roland (m. 2023) |
| Children | 1 |
| Parents |
|
| Awards | Webby Award (2019) |
| Website | brennanleemulligan |
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]
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Writing
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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]
Performing
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]
Awards
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]
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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]
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Television
| 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" |
Web
| 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] | |
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