Describing Dimension 20 in one word is harder than you think

Dimension 20 thrilled Madison Square Garden with its biggest live show ever in late January. We sat down with castmates Zac Oyama and Ally Beardsley and asked each of them how they would describe their fellow players, and DM Brennan Lee Mulligan, in only one word. That word, as it turns out, is “bird.”

Zac Oyama: “Bombastic.”

Ally Beardsley: Ohhhh my gosh. “Nesting hen.” Just playful and silly, but ultimately very warm to return to.

Oyama: Is it too late for me to change mine to “nesting hen”?

Oyama: Kind of a nesting hen.

Beardsley: All jokes aside, I’m going to say “grouse.” Grouse.

Oyama: Grouse. That’s another type of bird, right? Say one thing about what a grouse is.

Beardsley: Ornate.

Oyama: Ornate, yeah! And uses words you don’t normally hear.

Beardsley: Yeah, exactly. A little British, a grouse. Maybe. I don’t totally know.

Oyama: I don’t know where they are, but I would believe that.

Beardsley: Oh my god, Brennan, I’m going to leave the bird thing behind and just be real.

Oyama: Brennan…

Beardsley: Is…

Oyama: GOD.

Beardsley: Yeah! The creative orifice that we all came from. Can you tell I took an edible? No, I’m kidding. I’m stone sober, this is literally just how I talk.

Oyama: It’s so hard to think of one word for Brennan. He’s funny. He’s brilliant — he’s a brilliant DM, he comes up with so much stuff. He kind of referees, and—

Beardsley: “Referee” is hilarious.

Oyama: Yeah, “ref.”

Beardsley: “Ref.”

Beardsley: Emily is like a jackpot. I feel like, the energy that she gives, you’re just kind of like… What? Larger-than-life payout for some of the things that she plans and pulls off in her characters.

Oyama: Somehow, just one quarter turned into a million dollars.

Beardsley: Also “ref,” but in a sillier way. Like if a little kid dressed up in a ref costume, because you’re still having fun with them.

Oyama: Yeah. Scout!”

Beardsley: Murph’s a Boy Scout through and through.

Oyama: He’s such a funny stickler in so many ways. Mabe “stickler”? He would hate — every interview I do, when someone asks me to describe Murph, I say something, and then I would say, “…And he would hate that I said that.”

Beardsley: So it turns out he just would not like us to be talking about him. Murph is also just like, my guy. We’re talking—

Oyama: “Solid.”

Beardsley: “Solid.” So ripped right now.

Oyama: Solid stickler.

Beardsley: Solid ripped stickler… sex symbol!

Oyama: Keep going.

Oyama: If I had to describe Ally in one word, I would say the first thing that’s coming to mind is the Taboo buzzer, which is not one word. Just like the— [makes a loud buzzer noise]

Beardsley: Always kind of out of batteries when you really need it. I do like that. It’s just kind of out of nowhere, so I love it. I have no rebuttal. I accept it graciously.

Beardsley: “Grouse.” No. Zac, oh my God, Zac! The first word that’s coming to mind for me is “flower.” And I don’t really know why, but it’s very sweet.

Oyama: Wow. That’s beautiful. I’m sorry I called you a Taboo buzzer.

Beardsley: No, that’s cool. I did think it would be funny to be super sincere after you called me the Taboo buzzer. I probably would’ve been like “Fucking dipshit!” Zac is also a gymnastic tumbler in my mind. A physicality that’s very funny.

Oyama: I was going to say for you, sort of a judo move. “Flippin’.”

Beardsley: Yeah, totally. I’m like Joe Rogan in his midlife crisis, just beet red, on the verge of it all ending.

Oyama: I’ll take [“flower”]. I feel like it’s really the only time we said one word.

Beardsley: Except “grouse.” But of course we all knew I meant a nesting grouse.

Oyama: I wanted to say “ancient” for you. That’s mostly just because I think it’s a beautiful word.

Beardsley: I think it’s beautiful, too. You’re a flower. I am ancient. Ancient and bright red. Like Joe Rogan at a tumbling class.