Dungeons & Dragons in popular culture

As the popularity of Dungeons & Dragons grew throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, the game was referenced more and more in popular culture. Numerous games, films and cultural references based on D&D or D&D-like fantasies, characters or adventures have been ubiquitous since the end of the 1970s. Typically, though by no means exclusively, D&D players are portrayed derogatively as the epitome of geekdom. References to the game are used as shorthand to establish characterization or provide the punchline of a joke. Many players, miffed with this stereotype, embrace the fact that comedian Stephen Colbert, musician Moby, and actors Vin Diesel, Matthew Lillard, Mike Myers, Patton Oswalt, Wil Wheaton and Robin Williams have made their D&D hobbies public.

Comics

 * FoxTrot, Jason and Marcus are occasionally seen playing.
 * Questionable Content, webcomic. Appearing in Comic #963 "Raven Levels Up" and others.
 * Schlock Mercenary webcomic. Referenced in the comic of 11 November 2007
 * Order of the Stick webcomic. Follows an adventuring party in a Dungeons and Dragons universe.
 * 8-Bit Theater webcomic. The character Red Mage very often views the world as a version of Dungeons and Dragons and plays by the rules as a munchkin, even going so far as to cheat death by "forgetting" to write down his damage.

Movies and television

 * Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
 * The final episode of Freaks & Geeks entitled "Discos and Dragons", in which the Geeks invite bad-boy Daniel Desario to play the game with them. He accepts after seeing Harris reading the Monster Manual during school.
 * S.L.C. Punk
 * A recent episode of The Sarah Silverman Program.
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Smashed and Chosen episodes).
 * The Futurama episode "Anthology of Interest (Part 1)" in which Gary Gygax actually starred.
 * In the X-Files, abductee Blaine Faulkner says that he "didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons & Dragons without learning a little something about courage".
 * SpongeBob Squarepants, A season 4 episode is titled "Dunces and Dragons" where SpongeBob, Patrick, and medieval versions of Sandy and Squidward must rescue Princess Pearl from the evil wizard Planktonimore and a medieval version of Karen, the computer wife who is a crystal ball and a jellyfish dragon and bring her back to King Krabs ,who at the hero parade for SpongeBob and Patrick invents the Krabby Patty.
 * Craig from Malcolm in the Middle claims to have a level 14 elven cleric.
 * Dexter and his friends in Dexter's laboratory play a game similar to Dungeons & Dragons in epsiode "DD & D".

Music

 * "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "White & Nerdy".
 * Musician/comedian Stephen Lynch's song called "D&D", which mocks the typical stereotype of a Dungeons & Dragons player—a metalhead that smokes marijuana, drinks Mountain Dew, lives in his mother's basement, and has little to no interaction with females. He has performed the song live on several radio programs including The Opie and Anthony Show and The Preston & Steve Show.
 * The Weezer song, In the Garage, starts with the lyrics, "I've got a Dungeon Master's Guide/I've got a twelve-sided die," both references to Dungeons & Dragons.
 * Flashlight Brown's song "Ready to Roll."