James Brolin and Barbra Streisand.

“Mirella Freni and Pavarotti shared the same wet nurse,” former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said last week at the Eighth Annual Opera News Awards at The Plaza, sharing a bit of opera trivia before giving the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s distinguished achievement award to the supreme Modenese soprano. “Just imagine the Freudian connotations,” hizzoner continued. “Mirella’s mother liked to say, ‘Guess who got all the milk?’”

Triggering uproarious laughter and a few gasps.

The next morning, Shindigger was still giggling at the Waldorf Astoria for the 2013 Matrix Awards, hosted by Joan Rivers, where pioneering women in media and communications such as Kara Swisher, Joanna Coles, HSN’s Mindy Grossman and Bonnie Hammer received Tiffany & Co. medallions from the likes of Barry Diller, Iman and Ryan Seacrest. Another legendary songstress, five-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, was celebrated as well.

“She has the voice of an angel,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn declared as she bestowed a Matrix on Ms. McDonald. Though it was Ms. Rivers who got in the last line—“Dessert was good, but not worth the calories!”—before hobbling off the stage.

All in all, it proved to be as much of a musical week as a comedic week for Shindigger, though, highlighted by The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 40th anniversary Chaplin Awards Gala, which honored the epic career of Barbra Streisand and featured a mega-star-studded array of delicious surprises.

“Boy am I excited, this is such a treat!” exclaimed our first surprise, Liza Minnelli, after a standing ovation. “When I saw Barbra perform, I went nuts,” she raved. “I said Mama—it’s just unique and was splendid. She had chutzpah! The real deal!”

Grabbing the mic and a nearby director’s chair, Ms. Minnelli winced, “Now I have to sit down. My back is killing me.” And then she performed such Streisand signatures as “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have?” and “Isn’t This Better” from Funny Lady. (Ms. Streisand would quip later that she had forgotten the former was one of her songs.)

Next, former recipients Catherine Deneuve and Michael Douglas graced the stage.

“Michael and I are very pleased to give you congratulations on this well-deserved honor, and happy birthday!” the French siren purred.

“You were a master,” gushed Mr. Douglas. “It has been my joy over the years to watch you as an artist on stage, and it has been equally as meaningful to be your friend.”

One after another, immortal film stars and celebrity performers paid their respects to Empress Barbra, who sat perched with husband James Brolin in box four, first tier, on the right side of Avery Fisher Hall. George Segal, Amy Irving, Kris Kristofferson and Blythe Danner all said a few words, video felicitations came from Robert Redford and Omar Sharif, and there were musical performances by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (“Hello Dolly”), songwriter Alan Bergman (“The Way We Were”), and a surprise finale by Tony Bennett.

“She asked me why she should do it,” Ben Stiller said drily as he recounted how he convinced the diva to take her role in Meet the Fockers. “Finally, we worked out the creative details, or as she calls it, ‘the money.’”

The funnyman then introduced his Chappaqua neighbor, who just so happens to be the 42nd president of the United States of America.

“I don’t know why, I just never got the nerve to call him up and hang,” Mr. Stiller laughed. “Hey, Bill, wanna come over and order some vegan pizza and play some video games? Watch House of Cards on Netflix?”

President Bill Clinton, taking in the crowd’s awe and rousing applause, played with the wisecrack. “Ben, I accept your offer, and pretty soon House of Cards will be back on,” the former president pledged. “Meanwhile, we can watch a replay of Meet the Fockers and see Barbra give sex advice to old people—like me!”

Awkward laughter filled the hall as the president quickly mentioned his wife, Hillary, and then continued:

“I am very grateful to The Film Society of Lincoln Center for allowing me, on its 40th anniversary, to give the Chaplin Award to my friend. A friend of my family’s and one of the most gifted and big-hearted people I have ever known.”

President Clinton commended Ms. Streisand for her film work, her philanthropic leadership and her many talents.

“When I was president, we had a small list of members of Congress that we called the ‘Just Say Yes List,’” because they were so dogged that you knew you were gonna give in to them sooner of later,” he recalled. “That’s the way Barbra is. In the end, I would say yes.”

And then it was finally time for Ms. Streisand to take the stage.

“My dear Mr. President, thank you for taking the time to be with us here tonight,” she began.

The divine Ms. Streisand spoke about the power of art in trying times and shared numerous anecdotes from her treasured past. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve been called bossy and opinionated,” Ms. Streisand admitted. “Maybe that’s because I am?”

The audience chuckled, and Ms. Streisand raised her voice: “Three cheers for bossy women!” she said.

And through the standing, roaring gala patrons, we swore we saw Mr. Clinton’s wife, in the third row, beaming.

Main: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay/ Insert: Bob Odenkirk and Ben Stiller (Getty Images/The Ben Stiller Show

IFC clearly knows what it is doing. The network that brought you Portlandia (and also Comedy Bang Bang!, if that is your sort of thing), has just announced its green-lighting of two new shows; Spoils of Babylon and The Birthday Boys. The former will be written by and star Will Ferrell alongside long-time writing partner and former head SNL writer Adam McKay, while the latter will be executive produced by The Ben Stiller Show buddies Ben Stiller and Bob Odenkirk. Er, we mean, Saul.

And whoa my gosh, do they look great.

Spoils of Babylon, which will be co-produced by Funny or Die, sounds exactly like the epic British comedy, Garth Marenghi's DarkPlace. Which is a very good thing:

The Spoils of Babylon is a television adaptation of a best-selling epic novel by fictional famous author Eric Jonrosh (played by Ferrell) and will feature an ensemble cast to be announced later. The blowsy century-spanning saga chronicles the sexy and dramatic lives of a family who made their fortune in the oil business. IFC has ordered six, half-hour episodes to premiere in late 2013.

“This is a crazy and maybe even a stupid idea,” says Will Ferrell. “IFC is either really courageous or really stupid which makes them the perfect partner for us," he added.

In the vein of The Thorn Birds and Winds of War, the epic story of The Spoils of Babylon spans three generations, taking viewers from the oil fields of Texas to boardrooms in New York City, through world war battlefields and velvet sheeted bedrooms. As the story unfolds, the booze, the passion and the heartache lead to illegal arms deals and international espionage with the Shah of Iran not to mention the creation of the doomed sub-prime market./blockquote>
Seriously, DarkPlace you guys:

Boom! Exactly. Now, the Odenkirk/Stiller collaboration is a bit different, as they are taking a UCB Improv troupe with the  name The Birthday Boys and are financing their full half-hour television comedy.

“The Birthday Boys are too good to just be making viral videos. They are funny enough to fill time between episodes of Portlandia,” said Ben Stiller. “I’m thrilled to be working with Bob Odenkirk again on a TV project. We try to do something every 20 years or so."
Said Bob Odenkirk, “The Birthday Boys are a super funny and fresh new comic voice. I will try not to slow them down.”
The series is in the classic vein of absurd/silly/smart/funny variety shows (Mr. Show, Monty Python), featuring sketches that twist real-life moments and cultural touchstones. An early episode tackles such issues as eggs, toilet paper and computers.
The Birthday Boys comedy group includes Jefferson Dutton, Dave Ferguson, Mike Hanford, Tim Kalpakis, Matt Kowalick, Mike Mitchell and Chris VanArtsdalen—whose combined credits include Parks and Recreation, The Office, Conan, Comedy Bang! Bang!, and Portlandia.

If you want to check out their stuff online, here's one of the Birthday Boys' web videos:

Comedy Central

Yeah, exactly like Monty Python. But who knows, maybe we're just jaded by Comedy Central's Workaholics, you know? In any case, these are good moves for IFC, which keeps building an awesome repertoire of comedy shows so that we all forget that its name technically stands for the Independent Film Channel.

Glenn Ligon's "Stranger #44," purchased by Ms. Aniston.

Despite the massive hype leading up to the event, Ben Stiller and David Zwirner’s Artists For Haiti charity auction at Christie’s this evening exceeded expectations with the 27 works offered selling for a collective $13.7 million, beating an earlier estimate of $10 million. Most pieces  exceeded high estimates, and four artists saw new record prices for their work at auction — Adel Abdessemed, Raymond Pettibon, Nate Lowman and Glenn Ligon, that last piece selling to Jennifer Aniston for $450,000. The prices realized were all at hammer, as well, since Christie’s had waved its fees for the evening.

At the podium was the charismatic Andrea Fiuczynski, president of Christie’s Los Angeles, in a black and silver skirt suit. Because charity auctions allow for a bit of playfulness, and because a Nate Lowman American flag painting sat to her right, she often conjured a boxing announcer, and the celebrities in the front row — Ms. Aniston, her boyfriend Justin Theroux, Mr. Stiller, his wife Christine Taylor and John McEnroe — brought an appropriately hefty crowd to the back of the room.

“All of you at the back can jump in at any time,” Ms. Fiuczynski joked, after a few lots.

The first record-breaking price came for Mr. Pettibon’s No Title (From life to…), which sold for $760,000 and was featured on the catalogue cover, though that new record was soon surpassed by No Title (But the sand), which went for $820,000 after a three-minute bidding war between dealer Nicholas Acquavella, a phone bidder and Guy Bennett, former Christie's worldwide head of impressionist and modern art, who represented another bidder on his phone.

Mr. Bennett sat at the front of the room, just behind Mr. Theroux, and Mr. Acquavella sat at the very back, bidding with a series of nods. At $730,000, Alexander Acquavella, sitting next to his brother, flipped the catalogue open to the middle to better examine the piece, which Mr. Bennett eventually won.

Not long after that, Mr. McEnroe found himself competing against Eleanor Acquavella for a piece by Zhang Huan. At $210,000, Mr. Stiller, who had been consulting with Mr. McEnroe, removed his glasses.

“The glasses are off,” Ms. Fiuczynski prodded. “This is getting serious.”

After a $230,000 bid by Ms. Acquavella, Mr. McEnroe attempted to bow out. Mr. Stiller rose at the front of the room and pretended to whack Mr. McEnroe with his paddle in exaggerated motions.

“I didn’t know you were a quitter,” Ms. Fiuczynski said to Mr. McEnroe, eliciting another bid. At $250,000, Ms. Acquavella won the lot, and the inevitable jab finally came.

“You can’t be serious,” Mr. Stiller said loudly, to titters.

“You can’t be serious,” Ms. Fiuczynski repeated on the stand, enunciating clearly.

Mr. McEnroe picked up a piece two lots after that, a sketch of Jay-Z at Glastonbury by Elizabeth Petyon for $85,000. At $450,000, Ms. Aniston beat Mr. Ligon’s previous record of $434,500, realized at Sotheby’s in September 2010.

Mr. Stiller picked up a few works of his own, the Lowman, a Jeff Koons, and a Martin Kippenberger among them. Flipping through the catalogue before the auction with The Observer, he’d pointed to the Koons as something he wanted, and spoke excitedly of other pieces that had attracted interest from others.

“You’re going to give Larry Gagosian and Bono a run for their money!” we said, referring to the pair’s charity auction in 2008.

“That’s my goal,” Mr. Stiller chuckled.

Reached for comment after the show, Amy Cappellazzo, chairman of the Christie’s post-war and contemporary art department, seemed wowed by the results, the $13,662,000 that will go to rebuilding Haiti’s devastated infrastructure. During the auction, she’d been enthusiastically manning the phones.

“I sent David [Zwirner] a text in the middle of the auction that said ‘You are definitely going to heaven for this,’” Ms. Cappellazzo said.

All auction price research courtesy of Artnet.

Correction An earlier version of this story misstated which Pettibon appeared on the auction catalogue's cover.

Raymond Pettibon's "No Title (But the sand...)," made for the auction and expected to sell for between $300,000 and $500,000.

This morning, before the press preview of the 26 works expected to bring in some $10 million in the Artists For Haiti charity auction at Christie’s on Thursday, the assembled press waited in the foyer just beyond the entrance to the auction house. Flipping through the Raymond Pettibon-covered catalog, which includes works by Urs Fischer, Chuck Close, Neo Rauch and Luc Tuymans, the media representatives — mostly photographers — sat on red leather couches before giant videos of G.E. Smith of the Saturday Night Live Band hanging out with Richard Gere and playing his guitars (going to auction on Oct. 11 with 107 lots). Members of a Swedish TV crew stood near the entrance, fiddling with a boom mike with an unrecognizable logo.

“Ben!” said a press person with open arms, as Ben Stiller walked through the front door. Mr. Stiller greeted Chelsea art dealer David Zwirner, and he greeted Amy Cappellazzo, chairman of the Christie’s post-war and contemporary art department. He greeted representatives of charities in Haiti. Though there were only some 20 assembled people in total (there was another preview at the gallery earlier this month), it would be at least two minutes of greeting before he was even able to hand off his sunglasses to a woman trailing him, which he did as the group walked to the gallery off the main staircase.

In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Zwirner spoke of the trip he took to Haiti with Mr. Stiller shortly after the actor came to him with the idea for the auction, and thanked the participating artists and galleries, among them Acquavella, Gagosian and Hauser & Wirth.

“The dealers who represent these artists were equally generous, so I thank my colleagues,” Mr. Zwirner said. “It’s a very competitive field, and it’s a great experience to turn the in-fighting into a joint effort.”

After those welcoming words, Ms. Cappellazzo, Mr. Stiller and Mr. Zwirner took a stroll around the gallery as flashbulbs went off and the boom mike angled.

“By the way, that’s a bikini thong,” Mr. Stiller said, pausing at a crescent-shaped Jeff Koons silkscreen of a sunset. He explained that he’d met Mr. Koons at an event over a year ago and his was the first number he called when he had the idea for the auction. Mr Koons was instantly on board. “When I went to David and I said I got Jeff Koons, that really meant something to him, and I think it really kick-started the whole thing.

“So this thong is really meaningful to me,” he waved his hand over it to wrap up the speech, to laughter.

Mr. Stiller started his flirtation with the art world about a year ago, he told The Observer after the press event, and met Mr. Zwirner through Steve Martin. His interest in the Chelsea life sprang largely from friends like Owen Wilson who have already made their entrees to collecting. (Mr. Wilson apparently collects American contemporary work like Donald Judd). After securing the Koons, Mr. Zwirner made overtures to his artists and others, bringing Mr. Stiller with him on studio visits. The two stopped by Urs Fischer’s workspace in Red Hook together. “It was insane,” Ms Stiller said. “He gave me this crazy print of this he-she female guy I can’t even unroll because my children would freak out.”

“It’s not dirty, it’s just…” he trailed off. “Terrifying. In a fun way.”

Walking into the next room during the tour, Ms. Cappellazzo explained that not just up-and-coming artists were represented in the auction; plenty of the “old guard” was represented too. She led the pack to the Jasper Johns.

“This is a very classic work on Mylar, signature style, with the ink washed throughout the top,” she said. “For anyone who’s a sign-language aficionado, you will see that he spells his own name in sign language.”

“Can I just say something about Jasper Johns?” Mr. Stiller asked the assembled cluster, holding up his hands to stop the crawl. He pointed at the work. “Keep your eye on this guy.”

Mr. Johns is represented by Matthew Marks, who convinced the artist to join the cause.

"We’re just colleagues, Matthew and I," Mr. Zwirner said. "We're not friends. He doesn’t owe me a favor, so it was a very positive experience for him to say yes."

Asked whether it was easier to go through galleries or artists for the auction, Mr. Zwirner said he found the artists to be easier, despite the fact that, unlike galleries, they cannot claim a tax deduction on anything besides the materials used in the work.

“It’s very hard for the artist to say no. One of the jobs of the galleries is to protect the artists,” he said. "Let me put it this way — quite often I got an initial ‘no’ and then asked for a second session where I got the ‘maybe’ and then the third where I got a 'yes.'”

“I was sneaky," he added. "I brought along a lot of photographs that we took down in Haiti.”

“We were way on-board before artists were committed,” Ms. Cappellazzo told The Observer. Christie’s has waved its fees and commissions for hosting the sale. “We were useful in suggesting what kinds of works would be the most commercial, helping to value them. We’re very involved in selling the sale, that is to say, reaching out to a lot of our clients who are interested in things here, who might not be David’s clients or other dealers’ clients. We know, for example, who buys Chris Ofili, who buys Rudi Stingel, because we sell them at auction.”

After the tour of the works and the end of a brief question session, Mr. Zwirner began to wander away, but Ms. Cappellazzo motioned him back with an arm swoop for a group photo in front of one of the works. A photographer poked his head out from behind his camera and recommended that they choose another piece, since the Dan Flavin — a diamond-shaped light installation — was so bright that it would have ruined any photos.

“Oh, not the Flavin — of course!” Mr. Cappellazzo said looking behind her as she waved the group to the right. “It wouldn’t become us!”

The works hit the block on Thursday evening at 7 p.m.

Actor and philanthropist Ben Stiller posing for a photo with Chelsea dealer Tony Shafrazi during the 2010 Art Basel Miami Beach fair. Photo: Patrick McMullan Company.

Gallerist David Zwirner, former president Bill Clinton and actor Ben Stiller announced today that they will co-chair a gala in September to benefit the Stiller Foundation, which is working to rebuild schools in Haiti that were damaged in the 2010 earthquake there.

The dinner will take place on Sept. 23, at the Skylight Soho event space in far west Soho. The day before, Christie's will host a benefit auction, called Artists for Haiti, which will include works by Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close (who has painted a portrait of Mr. Clinton), Urs Fischer, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Marlene Dumas and Jasper Johns (who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from the current U.S. president earlier this year), among others.

Ben Stiller has been popping up at art events with some regularity over the past year, alighting, for instance, in Miami during the 2010 Art Basel Miami Beach, where he dined alongside Whitney director Adam Weinberg and Marc Newson manager Stuart Parr at a dinner hosted by super dealer Larry Gagosian, Wendi Murdoch and collector Dasha Zhukova.

Details for some of the works in the charity auction are available here. Charity bidders will be competing for some impressive works, including one of Dan Flavin's iconic 1967 "monument" for V. Tatlin light sculptures and a new painting by Luc Tuymans that measures more than seven feet tall.

The Observer hopes that art critic Jerry Saltz will attend, since it would give him the opportunity to update his Facebook photo, which has long shown him posing next to Mr. Clinton.

New York's "foodies" are ravenous--not for food (they eat often, and they eat well), but for a new joint to obsess over. They're in luck! David Bouley has finally emerged from community board headaches and other location mishegoss to open Brushstroke, the Japanese restaurant of our drool-inducing fever dreams. The prix-fixe menu includes "hirousu tofu croquette floating in a ginger ankake sauce" (mmm, curd-y!). The space is designed by the folks who dressed down hip houseware store Muji, so expect a minimalist vibe--all the better to focus on the subtle flavor of your julienned squid! ... After dinner in Tribeca, drop by the Union Square Barnes & Noble, where Spike Lee will be signing DVD copies of If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise, his HBO doc on Hurricane Katrina. If the Knicks win the night before, Mr. Lee will be distracted, and if they don't, he'll be cranky--so go easy on him!

Brushstroke, 30 Hudson Street, reservations taken from 5:30 to 10 p.m., call (212) 791-3771 or visit opentable.com; Spike Lee at Barnes & Noble, 33 East 17th Street, 5:30 p.m., call 212-253-0810 for details

Thursday, April 21
Sashay, Treme

While we're on the subject of Katrina, we know--we should be watching Treme on HBO. (We just learned how to pronounce it!) That endearing Oscar-winning spitfire Melissa Leo is one of the stars, which bodes well. While we can't commit to another hour-long drama just at the moment, at least we can meet Ms. Leo at the premiere of the series' new season and ask her who taught her to swear and rock faux-fur coats. The drug-slinging boys from The Wire will be there, too--another show we're meaning to catch up on! The guilt never ends. ... If we can attend a premiere for a show we don't watch, we can certainly pop over to the New York International Auto Show, despite having forgotten how to drive! Tonight's opening gala, benefiting the East Side House Settlement, will feature a live auction of a British sports car, conducted by none other than socialite Lydia Fenet (recently spotted on the Times wedding pages).

Treme premiere, Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, arrivals at 6:15 p.m., screening at 7 p.m., private event, after-party to follow; Auto Show gala, 655 West 34th Street, Jacob Javits Center, cocktails at 6 p.m., dinner at 8:30 p.m., auction at 9:30 p.m., go to galapreview.org for tickets

Friday, April 22
Lady of The Ring

Don't bypass Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde (that name, so lusciously Germanic! "Brünnhilde" is a good name too). Just because Ms. Voigt's slimmed down after that bariatric surgery doesn't mean she won't be imposing in the Met's Die Walküre. Either way, she's in good hands--Robert Lepage's direction of his whole new Ring cycle is drawing raves, and the music direction is said to be simply Levine. It's been a strong season for divas, too, with Renée Fleming closing out a Met run in Capriccio tomorrow. But Ms. Voigt may be more ambitious, and less afraid of the unknown, than even the capricious operatic pop-star Ms. Fleming. Showing some Brünnhilde-like valor, the singer is planning to leave behind the chilly worlds of Norse mythology this summer to find her manifest destiny out west in a Glimmerglass Opera production of Annie Get Your Gun. The lady just loves toting weapons onstage!

Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, 6:30 p.m., performances of Die Walküre continue through May 14, go to metoperafamily.org for tickets

Saturday, April 23
The Wizard Merwin

It's spring--the time of year when we wish our eight-day week could stretch out to nine days, or 10! This year, why not celebrate the season's arrival in the city by getting out of town? Pulitzer-bedecked U.S. Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin takes a break from his important governmental duties (we envision him in cabinet meetings, scribbling quick sestinas about Libya) to read at the Storm King Art Center. Wander around the grounds after the reading and think about how perfect the natural setting would be, if only there were a few Starbuckses and a good gym. ... If the good weather can't deter you from loftier goals, drop in on a Tribeca Film Festival-sponsored screening and discussion on the future of electric cars, featuring the CEOs of Nissan and Tesla and moderated by noted automotive expert David Duchovny.

W. S. Merwin, Storm King Art Center, Old Pleasant Hill Road (Mountainville, N.Y.), 2 p.m., event free with admission to Storm King; "Revenge of the Electric Car," SVA Theater 2, 333 West 23rd Street, 5 p.m., visit tribecafilm.com for tickets

Sunday, April 24
Rabbit Hole

Have you got your eggs dyed? No, we don't mean some crazy new fertility treatment ripped from the pages of The Times Magazine--we're talking about Easter, silly! Join the frolic at the annual Easter Parade and Easter Bonnet Festival along Fifth Avenue. The Easter Parade, much like the underrated Richard Yates novel The Easter Parade, has always gotten a bit less ink than it deserves, probably because it's not "organized" in the traditional manner of city parades--no floats, no dignitaries, no controversies over banning gay people. Bonnet-wearing civilians simply stroll down Fifth Avenue as though it were the Champs-Élysées, bearing giant headgear and the occasional parasol. Remember, Jesus died for this, so let's go all out, people.

Parade route along Fifth Avenue from 49th to 57th Streets, begins 10am

Monday, April 25
Still Waters Run Deep

Thank God for celebrities on Broadway! Just when going to the theater was beginning to seem old-fashioned (they don't let you tweet?), along came movie stars. So even if the show is dull, we can still gawk and wait by the stage door for the likes of Ben Stiller! (We have so many unanswered questions about Little Fockers. ...) Mr. Stiller's not just taking the easy way out by playing Billy Flynn in Chicago or something--he's subjecting himself to John Guare's House of Blue Leaves, which opens tonight, alongside fellow certified-famous people Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh. ... Meanwhile, those with a literary bent will be flocking to the opening-night party for PEN's World Voices Festival, featuring ubiquitous party-boy Salman Rushdie and trend-spotter Malcolm Gladwell. Highlight: a joint reading by literary power couple Deborah Eisenberg and Wallace Shawn ...

House of Blue Leaves opening, Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th Street, 8 p.m., go to box office, call 212-239-6200, or visit visit telecharge.com for tickets; PEN Opening Night, Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, Pier 61, West 23rd Street and Hudson River, 7:30 p.m., call 866-811-4111 or visit ovationtix.com for tickets

Tuesday, April 26
Safe Space

Seems like just yesterday that the director Todd Haynes was tormenting poor Julianne Moore--giving her weird diseases in Safe, crushing her spirit in Far From Heaven. Apparently, all is forgiven! Moore sits on the benefit committee for the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame gala, and the director is this year's honoree. Go favor him with your best Dylan impression.

Prince George Ballroom, 15 East 27th Street, cocktails at 6 p.m., dinner and honors at 7 p.m., visit nyfa.org for tickets

Wednesday, April 27
Brooklyn Bound

Grit meets glitz as that scrappily populist Tribeca Film Festival, now in its 10th year, gets feted by society doyenne Graydon Carter at a private party at the State Supreme Courthouse. Robert De Niro will be there, no doubt reliving memories from his recent appearance in the same venue as a witness in that art gallery trial. ... Has perpetual downtown girl Sarah Jessica Parker forsaken Manhattan? First, she's spotted checking out apartments in Park Slope, and now she's skipping Mr. Carter's bash to hang out in Prospect Heights. (We won't even mention her recent trip to the sixth borough, Abu Dhabi.) Ms. Parker is honorary chair of the Brooklyn Artists Ball, to benefit the Brooklyn Museum. She'll hold court at a dinner party--not to be confused with The Dinner Party, the famous art installation by Judy Chicago upstairs, though we think Carrie deserves a place at the table with all those other feminist icons. (Hyapatia? Really?)

Tribeca Film Festival party, State Supreme Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, 7 p.m., private event; Brooklyn Artists Ball, Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn), VIP cocktail reception in Great Hall at 6:30 p.m., dinner in Beaux-Arts Court at 8 p.m., after-party to follow at 9 p.m., go to brooklynmuseum.org or call 718-501-6334

"Here you have in the same room presidents and poets and philosophers and artists and athletes and architects," Mr. Stengel said. "I mean, there's scientists here who have never met these famous folks before, and the famous folks are really meeting scientists."

Korean figure skater Kim Yu-Na, a gold medalist at the Vancouver games and one of the Time 100, was the first guest to walk the carpet.

None of the reporters asked her for comment, but the photographers were happy to take her picture.

While Ms. Yu-Na was posing, a gossip reporter from People magazine asked her handlers if she had a translator.

She speaks English, they said.

"Does she have a boyfriend?" asked a business reporter from Bloomberg.

The handlers shook their heads.

"Let's bring her over then," he said. "She's smoking hot."

Ms. Yu-Na disappeared into the party when she was finished with the cameras.

"I feel extremely honored and surprised," said Ben Stiller, who was included on the list in the Hero category.

"I kind of feel like somewhere in the back of my head somebody screwed up something in the editorial department," Mr. Stiller said.

Elie Wiesel passed uninterrupted in front of the reporters and entered the party.

"I feel comfortable because I don't know who anyone is," said director Judd Apatow, who bounced around next to his wife Leslie Mann. "I could not be more comfortable."

Ms. Mann was busy answering a question that was repeated all night by People magazine's man on the carpet, "What is sexy?"

We asked Martha Stewart, a Time 100 alumna, whom she was most excited to meet.

"I don't know, I have to go see who's around," said Ms. Stewart. "Not everyone comes. Like Lady Gaga's not coming."

Ms. Stewart told People that gardens were sexy.

The reporter asked a follow-up question: "Why? Because of dirt?"

Seth Meyers walked over ahead of Andy Samberg, the evening's emcee.

"It's kind of amazing when you meet somebody you have such high expectations for and they surpass them," said Seth Meyers. "It's incredible."

Mr. Meyers was talking about Betty White. Both were at the party. Neither was on the Time 100.

"I'm not good at small talk at all," said Neil Patrick Harris, one of Time's influencers. "It will probably be me huddled in a corner with my friend Kate who's here going 'Ooh look at that guy, Ooh look at that guy.'"

We asked Mr. Harris about his sphere of influence.

"My sphere of influence. I try to angle myself with as many demographics as I can. The stoner kids can appreciate the Harold and Kumar. The mainstream cats can like How I Met Your Mother. I am able to do the Smurfs movie to appease everyone, and, you know, Regis and Kelly to keep the housewives involved."

Before the party, Mr. Stengel explained his own sphere of influence.

"The thing I love about the Time 100 is being able to take people who are having influence that you don't know about," said Mr. Stengel. "A guy who is using text messaging to help African women's health in southern Africa — putting him in Time and saying he's one of the 100 most influential people."

"It increases his influence, and it increases ours at the same time," Mr. Stengel said.

Big news, though: Ben Stiller has made the leap from Artist to Hero because of his Web-based effort to build temporary schools in Haiti, StillerStrong.org. Robert De Niro explains:

When Ben recognized the need to provide schools for Haitian children, he found a way to do it by combining humor with humanity. He founded StillerStrong.org with the slogan "Stealing great ideas from other charities." You log on for the jokes, then stay because Ben has moved you; and before you know it, you've made a contribution, and the world's a slightly better place. What a pain in the ass.

You think that's harsh, you should see what Ben Bernanke wrote about Paul Volcker.

Selections from The 2010 Time 100.

Leaders

1.            Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

2.            J.T. Wang

3.            Admiral Mike Mullen

4.            Barack Obama

5.            Ron Bloom

Heroes

1.            Bill Clinton

2.            Kim Yu-Na

3.            Mir-Hossein Mousavi

4.            Ben Stiller

5.            Temple Grandin

Artists

1.            Lady Gaga

2.            Conan O'Brien

3.            Kathryn Bigelow

4.            Oprah Winfrey

5.            Valery Gergiev

Thinkers

1.            Zaha Hadid

2.            Elizabeth Warren

3.            Douglas Schwartzentruber and Larry Kwak

4.            Michael Pollan

5.            Atul Gawande