Patton Oswalt Leaves Casper Crowds Laughing, But He Can’t Hold Bladder

CASPER — Patton Oswalt is an award-winning stand-up comedian and actor who has performed in some of the largest cities in the world. On Friday, Wyomingites got to share a night as he reached a unique milestone in his career. 

Oswalt and fellow stand-up comedian Emo Philips both crossed Wyoming off their lists of state’s they hadn’t performed in on the stage of The Rialto Theater in Casper. 

Oswalt opened Friday's 9 p.m. late show with an anecdote about his drive from Bozeman, Montana, to Casper. He expressed his awe, fascination and bewilderment at his driver's ability to hold his bladder for the entire trip. 

"He never got out of the car," Oswalt said. "Emo and I stopped at every rest stop, and he never did. How was he holding his pee?" 

‘I’ll Try Not To Make Fun Of You’

"I have never set foot in the state of Wyoming," Oswalt told Cowboy State Daily before his show. "I was talking to Emo randomly a few years ago, and he goes, 'I've never done Wyoming or Montana.' And I'm like, 'Let's get it booked. Let's do this.' And this month, our schedules jived, and we were able to do it." 

Oswalt and Philips performed four times at The Rialto in front of modest but extremely responsive crowds.

Oswalt observed Wyoming's residents are "very laid back and unpretentious," which are key elements of a good crowd. 

"They love the goofy stuff," he said. "The fact that they went from me opening, then Emo, and then me was really cool. That's a lot of different styles, and the fact that they can shift gears like that is always a sign of a good crowd." 

After setting up an Okcupid online dating profile for an IT technician in the front row, Oswalt proceeded to introduce "your comedian's favorite comedian," Emo Philips.

"I've been a fan of his forever, but I've only done little shows and a showcase with him," Oswalt said of Philips and his sad-sack self-deprecating schtick. "I've never seen him do a full set like this." 

Philips' iconic set of whimsical (and not so whimsical) 180-degree-turn quips kept the audience in stitches from beginning to end, framing his act as a series of questions emailed to him by the Casper Star Tribune that he had only gotten around to answering that evening.

Whenever there was a pause in the laughter, Philips was hailed with shouts of, "We love you, Emo!" The comedian reciprocated the love, taking multiple opportunities to share how much he was enjoying Wyoming and the Rialto. 

When Philips expressed his interest in returning to Casper again, the audience responded with a standing ovation.

He politely declined to be interviewed, while expressing his deep gratitude to Casper and Wyoming for enthusiastically coming to see him at the Rialto.

"I'll try not to make fun of you," he said, "but it'll be hard." 

Gorgeous Graffiti

The main reason Oswalt never performed in Wyoming before was that it was too costly to get here. 

"When I was young, it cost a lot of money to get up here," he said. "I didn't have the money, and I wasn't going to make enough money to get back in time. It was just one of those things where I knew I was never going to stop doing comedy, and I'd get there one day." 

Oswalt was immediately taken with the beautiful mountains and scenery on his drive from Bozeman through the Bighorn Basin and Wind River Canyon. One of the highlights of his show is getting to take in the local ambiance, which was how he planned to spend his Saturday. 

"I'm going to wander the city all day," he said. "There's all these genuinely amazing towns and areas in this country, places that I wouldn't normally go to, and I get to visit them all. That's a huge bonus of this job." 

During his set, he spontaneously asked why a major film had never been filmed on the streets of Casper (“Starship Troopers” doesn't count), as it has an excellent atmosphere that was "a little crime noir."

He offered to write a script set on the streets of Casper by the end of the weekend, provided he had enough cocaine to do so.

Oswalt hadn't had much time to explore Casper by Friday night, but said he admired its unique architecture. He also had another civic compliment, although he prefaced it as one that might not seem as endearing as he genuinely intended it to be. 

"The graffiti is gorgeous here," he said. "I know that it may be something the city planners don't want to showcase, but there is some really good graffiti in Casper." 

‘Why Don't All Theaters Have This?’

Oswalt didn't shy away from politics during his set.

He joked about pop-culture talking points like the reelection of Donald Trump, his complicated feelings about a recent trip to Hobby Lobby, and the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. 

As he was launching into a bit about his concerns on the growth of artificial intelligence, fueled by "boring billionaires," he interrupted himself by admiring the front of the Rialto stage — a series of carpeted steps leading to the VIP tables in the front row. 

"I'm gonna sit down," he said to an enthusiastic audience response. "Why don't all theaters have this?" 

Oswalt proceeded to do a spontaneous bit about doing stand-up while sitting down. As he mused about what his posture and sitting position would mean for the delivery of his set, he couldn't help but hold his head in his hands and laugh with the audience. 

Oswalt has performed in front of thousands of people in theaters in New York, Seattle, Washington and Austin, Texas. His Primetime Emmy Award-winning special "Talking for Clapping" was filmed at the Fillmore Theater in San Francisco with a capacity of 1,315 people. 

The Rialto holds a maximum of 156 people, but Oswalt is the first to say size doesn't matter. He described The ELM in Bozeman, Montana, where he performed Thursday night, as "kind of big." 

"I do some bigger theaters, but I also love smaller clubs," he said. "I like having different-sized audiences, especially in different parts of the country. It keeps the juices going."

Neither Oswalt nor Philips lost the crowd, even when joking about the COVID-19 pandemic or President Trump. The key was their investment in the audience and their unquestionable mastery of comedy —regardless of the punchline, a great joke's a great joke. 

Encore And Back For More

Oswalt was flying out of Casper on Sunday. He said he plans to spend a day at home with his wife and 15-year-old daughter in Los Angeles before flying off for his next booking. 

"I'm doing the polar opposites," he said. "Wyoming to California, and then I'm in London, England, for a week. That's going to be interesting." 

Oswalt said Casper had "the feeling" of Athens, Georgia, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They're laid-back communities where people want quiet, slower lives far from the frenzy of New York or Los Angeles. 

"Casper has its own feeling, of course, but everything's slowed down here," he said. "The people here have said, 'This is how I want to live.' And I think that's a more peaceful and long-term healthy way to live." 

During his set, Oswalt earnestly praised Wyoming as a place where people could "sit down and talk" regardless of political and ideological differences. He acknowledged that Casper is the kind of place he wouldn't mind living once he's ready to leave the hubbub of Tinseltown behind. 

"I can totally see myself finding a place to live out here," he said. "Definitely." 

After performing their sets in front of the Casper crowd, Oswalt and Philips expressed the same desire to return to The Rialto. That's quite an endorsement for the theater, which is trying to establish itself as a go-to destination for big-name comedians and musicians. 

If Oswalt hadn't earned a standing ovation for his set, he clinched it with his genuine enthusiasm on The Rialto stage. 

"I'm definitely coming back here," he said.

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.