Brennan Lee Mulligan
American writer, actor and gamer (born 1988) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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. He is the creator and regular gamemaster for Dropout's actual play series Dimension 20. He also wrote the superhero webcomic Strong Female Protagonist alongside artist Molly Ostertag.
Brennan Lee Mulligan | |
|---|---|
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 |
Early life
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Brennan Lee Mulligan was born on January 4, 1988, in New York[1] to actress and writer Elaine Lee and comedian 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]
He was homeschooled as a youth.[7] 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.[8]
Career
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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] He has appeared on, and is the executive producer of, the comedy panel game show Game Changer and the spin-off improv show Make Some Noise on Dropout.[19][20][21] He has also appeared on other Dropout shows such as Very Important People and Gastronauts.[22][23]
Actual play
Since 2018,[24] 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,[25] Comic Book Resources,[26] Wired,[27] 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".[28]
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.[29][30] He returned to Critical Role in 2024 as the Dungeon Master of the three-part special titled "Downfall" for the show's third campaign.[31][32] Mulligan was then the Dungeon Master for Exandria Unlimited: Divergence which premiered on February 13, 2025.[33][34]
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.[35][36] The show launched on March 1, 2023 and quickly became one of the top 20 Patreon accounts in the world.[37]
Awards
He has received an "Excellence in Performance Award" from the New York International Fringe Festival,[38] and won a 2019 Webby Award in the "Comedy: Shortform" category for his CollegeHumor skit, Tide CEO: You Gotta Stop Eating Tide Pods.[39]
Personal life
Mulligan is the godson of comics artist and writer Michael Kaluta.[40] 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.[41]
By 2020, he lived in Los Angeles.[26] On January 21, 2021, Mulligan announced his engagement to his fiancée, Izzy Roland, via Instagram.[42] They married on April 1, 2023.[43][44] 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.[45]
Politically, Mulligan is a socialist.[46] 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.[47][48]
Filmography
 |
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 | [49] |
| 2013 | Teacher's Lounge | Matt | [49] | |
| 2017–2020 | CollegeHumor Originals | Various | [18][50] | |
| 2017 | Fallen For You | Todd | Pilot released on YouTube | [51] |
| 2018–present | Dimension 20 | Dungeon Master, various | Also creator, executive producer | [52][53][54] |
| 2018 | Liverspots and Astronots | Lancery (voice), various | [15] | |
| 2019–present | Adventuring Academy | Himself | [55] | |
| 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" |
[56] |
| 2019 | The Adventure Zone: The Dadlands | Game Master | [57] | |
| Ultramechatron Team Go! | Galatax | [58] | ||
| 2020 | Rude Tales of Magic | Kreedis (voice) | Episode: "Mountaintop" | [59] |
| 2021 | Hello from the Magic Tavern | Kalhaxorus the Grim (voice) | Episode: "Death Knight" | [60] |
| L.A. by Night | Adrian Clairmont | Episode: "Live on the Moon", Episode: "Reign in Hell" | [61][62] | |
| Battle for Beyond | Nikhil | [63][64] | ||
| 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" | [65] |
| Legends of the Multiverse | Dungeon Master | [66] | ||
| Roll20 10 year Anniversary stream | Citizen Doctor Abraham Mehermblur | 3 episodes; "D&D Strixhaven", "D&D Chaos", "D&D Chaos 3" | [67] | |
| Exandria Unlimited: Calamity | Dungeon Master | 4 episodes | [68] | |
| 2023–present | Worlds Beyond Number (The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One) | Dungeon Master | Creator-owned podcast | [35][36][69] |
| 2023 | Candela Obscura (The Circle of Needle & Thread) | Sean Finnerty | 3 episodes | [70][71] |
| 2024 | Critical Role (campaign 3) | Dungeon Master | Episode: "The Nox Engine", Episodes: "Downfall Parts 1–3" | [72][73][31] |
| Very Important People | Augbert | Episode: "Augbert" | [74] | |
| Bigger! With Brennan and Izzy | Himself | Improv special | [75][44] | |
| The Adventure Zone: Abnimals | Sgt. Salamander | Podcast; Episode: "Bunny Heist!" | [76] | |
| 99% Invisible | Himself | Podcast; Episode: "Brennan Lee Mulligan" | [77] | |
| 2025 | Exandria Unlimited: Divergence | Dungeon Master | 4 episodes | [33][78] |
References
External links
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