Brennan Lee Mulligan is one of the most well-known comedians in the Dungeons and Dragons actual play sphere. Before becoming the executive producer, writer, and game master of Dimension 20, he was involved in plenty of other projects, including CollegeHumor sketches, as the co-creator of Strong Female Protagonist, and even as a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Mulligan has played many roles over the years – but two of the Dungeons and Dragons guru’s most important ones are that of husband and father.

The Best War Games spoke to Mulligan about his career and family, and how his partnership with fellow comedian Isabella “Izzy” Roland enriches not only his life, but his role at Dropout and Dimension 20. Beyond his personal life, Mulligan also talked about the unique family-like relationships that form between the cast of Dimension 20 and those of other comedy and actual play groups.

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By Eric Law

The Marriage of Brennan Lee Mulligan’s Family and Career

Brennan Lee Mulligan and Izzy Roland – Family Forged in Comedy

Mulligan and Roland began dating in 2017 after meeting in the improv scene. They were engaged by early 2021 and got married on April 1, 2023. The dynamic duo dominates the stage when they take it together, and beyond their appearances on Dropout, are currently in the midst of an improv tour, with shows in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Las Vegas scheduled throughout the year.

“Dollar for dollar, pound for pound, Izzy Roland is the funniest person on the planet Earth,” Mulligan admitted. “There is no one sharper or faster or weirder who makes more exciting choices. She endlessly makes choices I never could have predicted or anticipated, and yet, they all feel creatively inevitable.” However, while their relationship was formed because of comedy and improv, Mulligan attests that it isn’t the reason they work so well together. “We have the same dynamics that I think every successful marriage has in terms of, like, we’re good teammates,” he said. “We work well doing the business of life.” Mulligan adds:

“If you find someone you like hanging out with, that you are in love with, and who you do life well with, you have to marry that person!”

Then, in early 2024, the two comedians welcomed a baby into their lives, whom they have publicly referred to as “Sunny” to protect their anonymity. “I’m a thousand times more tired, and a million times happier,” Mulligan said in regard to the new addition to the family. Becoming a father has enriched Mulligan’s life in ways he couldn’t anticipate – though it did introduce the first challenge in his and Roland’s marriage: babysitters. “When you’re both on stage, it means one of you is not home.”

Having a child also helped Mulligan in his professional career. “For people like myself, who are the non-birthing partner, there’s a lifetime reduction of your base cortisol level that happens when you have a child.” This decrease in the stress-response hormone has made Mulligan better at what he called “triaging the severity of problems,” which especially aids him while operating as a leader and creative director for projects like Dimension 20.

“Having a setting where someone comes in, and they’re like, ‘There is a five-alarm emergency!’ And it hits you, and there’s some kind of shield of the reorienting of your priorities where you’re holding a coworker or a colleague and say, ‘Hey. That thing? Is not a real problem.’”

While Mulligan will obviously be elated if his kid gets into D&D, he made sure to point out that he would support their chosen interests wholeheartedly, TTRPG or not. That said, he explained that, “if they happen to arrive at an interest in D&D, baby, they hit the jackpot.” With hundreds of hours of content in Dimension 20 alone, they will have no dearth of Dungeons and Dragons actual plays starring their father to watch. “Like, if you’re Martin Scorsese’s daughter,” he explained, “you can watch every Scorsese movie in a week. You know what I’m saying? Let me be clear: you cannot watch all of my content in a week!”

Dimension 20 Doesn’t Have Any ‘Competition’

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Beyond his wife, child, and direct relatives, Mulligan has another important family as well: the one that has formed in and around Dimension 20 and Dropout as a whole. However, those bonds go beyond the community, crew, and cast – including special guests on Dimension 20 like the pro wrestlers in Titan Takedown – but also to those of other actual play and comedy groups.

While most types of media would view other games, shows, or companies as rivals, Dropout doesn’t do so. “The reason these different organizations lend so much aid and support to each other,” Mulligan explained, “is actually friendship. We know and care about the people on the other sides of these companies, and we want them to do well.” Mulligan’s brother once asked him about this curious dynamic when the Dimension 20 game master appeared in Critical Role’s Exandria Unlimited miniseries, and when Matthew Mercer appeared in his own actual play. When Mulligan explained his approach to working together with these other groups, his brother had a rather comical reaction:

“And my brother put it this way, and said, ‘Oh yeah, you guys aren’t really competing with each other, you’re both on the same team competing against people going for a walk.’ I went, “That’s kinda bleak! People should go for walks… Please go for walks! There’s nothing wrong with going for walks!”

Critical Role on Dimension 20, Smosh on Smartypants, and The Try Guys on Um, Actually are just some of the crossovers that have taken place in the past. Many friends from these groups, along with other big names from the actual play, comedy, and voice acting scenes like Aabria Iyengar and Erika Ishii even came to Mulligan and Roland’s wedding. These creators are not competitors – they are a part of a greater family of friends all fighting on the same side of entertainment, and whose successes enrich the entire scene. “All of these successes help the larger world of actual play and grow the audience across actual play, which is how we see it.”

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