Pat McAfee may be an ex-NFL player, a wrestling commentator and host of massively popular sports talk program “The Pat McAfee Show,” but he’s still a Pittsburgher at heart.

And the city loves him back, as evidenced by the 90-minute sellout of tickets for his PPG Paints Arena show “Pat McAfee’s Big Night Aht” and the roaring crowd that greeted him as he came to the stage on April 9.

Starting half an hour past scheduled showtime, McAfee presented a marathon show that lasted until just minutes before midnight and brought many stars to the stage. Though one rumored guest — NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers — was not one of them.

Even before McAfee appeared, the guest stars were stacking up. Mikey and Bob from 96.1 KISS-FM’s Morning Freak Show kicked things off from on large screens, and they were followed by a video from former college football coach and analyst Lou Holtz, who introduced a sweeping version of the national anthem performed live on saxophone.

After appearing on the circular end of the thrust stage ringed by fog, McAfee spoke to the crowd for about 30 minutes, recalling his upbringing in Plum.

“My mom’s from Churchill, my dad’s from Forest Hills, and I’m from the greatest topography on planet Earth, the East Hills of Pittsburgh,” he said.

He talked through his biography, showing snapshots of his childhood, his parents’ home, his sports career, his wife and daughter, and even his mugshot (from a 2010 public intoxication arrest). He also talked about the pressures of fame, of switching careers, political matters and lawsuits.

At the end of his monologue, he claimed that the top result upon Googling “what is the greatest song that is performed at live sporting events?” was Steelers game mainstay “Renegade” by Styx, and as the song boomed from the speakers, country star Jelly Roll made an entrance onto the stage.

After finishing up singing “Renegade,” Jelly Roll whipped up the crowd with his upbeat tune “Liar,” his gravelly voice filling the arena. He finished up his brief set with the slower “Need a Favor,” which showed off his impressive falsetto.

Then, McAfee joined him in a sing-along medley of rap hits including DMX’s “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem,” Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.”

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The next round of entertainment came in the form of Oz the Mentalist, who performed an only semi-successful and complicated number trick.

“Tonight is a dream come true,” McAfee said, moving on to the next segment of the show. He talked about the many opportunities he’s had throughout his life. “The WWE was my dream. … The only thing I wanted was to be in the WWF and then the WWE, now I’ve got a chance to do it,” he said.

He brought out WWE wrestler Jey Uso, who assisted McAfee in giving out $100,000 to a crowd member in a random seat selection, aided by a randomizer that was definitely (legally) not “Plinko.” Several such giveaways occurred throughout the show, all a bit drawn out timewise but — naturally — a big hit with the crowd.

Another too drawn-out segment was the sumo wrestling match that McAfee staged right at the circular end of the thrust stage. It also featured the most guests, with “Pat McAfee Show” regulars Boston Connor and Ty Schmit of the “Toxic Table” providing commentary, wrestling commentator Michael Cole and WWE ring announcer Alicia Taylor, and popular comedian Shane Gillis acting as referee — a cameo that was greeted with particular enthusiasm by the audience. The match was introduced by a video package narrated by wrestler Triple H.

Sumo wrestlers Ichi and Hiroki were compelling, even electrifying, for the moments that they were locked in the midst of the match, but there was plenty of frustrating downtime in between the three rounds.

After another money giveaway — this time $250,000 — McAfee introduced the next segment by pondering what would make this truly the best night ever in Pittsburgh. “What else do you add to a show like that?”

The not-incorrect answer was rapper Wiz Khalifa, who was accompanied by DJ Bonics to perform the modern unofficial Pittsburgh sports anthem “Black and Yellow.” He followed it up by another crowd hype song, “Work Hard Play Hard.”

“You know what, Pittsburgh, I’m happy to be home,” Wiz Khalifa said. “I got something special for y’all.”

Then “The Next Episode” started playing and legendary rapper Snoop Dogg stepped onstage, wearing a personalized Penguins sweater. (He famously wore a Penguins sweater in the music video for mid-’90s classic “Gin and Juice,” so there’s history there.)

Completely changing the vibe, Snoop brought out country artist Ernest and they performed the just-debuted duet “Gettin’ Gone,” which had the crowd clapping rhythmically. Finishing up the mini-set, Wiz and Snoop got the crowd singing along at the top of their voices with their 2011 hit “Young, Wild & Free.”

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After sharing a moment of camaraderie with the performers before they left, McAfee also showed off some of his own friends, including AJ Hawk, Darius Butler and Anthony DiGuilio, another Pittsburgher who became emotional when he talked about his friendship with McAfee and his return to the city.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this here,” he said, after leading the crowd in a “here we go Steelers, here we go” chant.

The last musical performance of the night came from gentle-voiced country singer Parker McCollum, who led the crowd in a heartfelt and lovely sing-along of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away.”

As the hour got later, it was time for one big-money giveaway, and McAfee is a sports guy, after all. So who better to help him fill some lucky audience member’s pockets than an all-star group of hometown sports figures? Joining him onstage were former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, current Pirates pitching phenom Paul Skenes and the big three of the Penguins, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.

Roethlisberger, Skenes and Crosby were each tasked with standing at the end of the thrust stage and throwing a football through a hole positioned all the way down on the regular stage. All of the sports stars had sweet sentiments for the Pittsburgh fans — even Skenes, who was met with deafening chants of “Sell the team!” aimed at Pirates ownership after the team’s rocky start.

“I haven’t even been here a year and this is an awesome city. I haven’t played everywhere in the league, I haven’t gone to every park, but the fans here, the park, the city, the character is like none other,” Skenes said.

Both Crosby and Roethlisberger managed to get their throws through the hole — Kris Letang was unsurprised by Crosby’s throwing ability, despite his being a hockey player — so $2 million was given away to one lucky fan to cap off the show.

In addition to giving away money to audience members, McAfee also matched donations with several of his guests for local Pittsburgh organizations.

McAfee was filled with nothing but gratitude as he prepared to end the show.

“All of you have been so amazing tonight, I can’t thank you enough. I would like to say this. I was very, very lucky to play football for a living,” he said.

”The locker room is the greatest thing of all time. … The locker room has so many different people from different backgrounds, different beliefs, different opinions. … I think life is like that. We’re all trying to get by, we’re all trying to enjoy ourselves. Let’s remember that.”