Brennan Lee Mulligan

American writer, actor and gamer (born 1988) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brennan Lee Mulligan

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.

Quick Facts Born, Education ...
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Thumb
Mulligan in 2021
Born (1988-01-04) January 4, 1988 (age 37)
EducationSUNY Ulster (AA)
School of Visual Arts (BFA)
Occupations
Years active2012–present
Employers
Spouse
Isabella Roland
(m. 2023)
Children1
Parents
AwardsWebby Award (2019)
Websitebrennanleemulligan.com
Close

Early life

Summarize
Perspective

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

Summarize
Perspective

Writing

Thumb
Mulligan with Strong Female Protagonist artist Molly Ostertag

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

Thumb
Dimension 20 at the Hammersmith Apollo during the 2024 UK and Ireland tour.

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 podcastDragon 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

More information Year, Title ...
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"
Close

Web

More information Year, Title ...
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]
Close

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.