New York is having a moment. In June, the Knicks pulled off the impossible and won their first NBA championship in 53 years, sending the city into a frenzy of infectious energy. “I was at my friend Justin’s house with a bunch of straight people, which was fun,” Nicky Campbell, fashion TikTok star and one of Variety’s first 10 Creators to Watch, recalled of the night the Knicks won. “We all started screaming, and then we ran out to meet all my other friends at Times Square. I was there for hours.”For Campbell, who has called New York home for 12 years, the championship celebrations that erupted on the streets were unlike anything he’d witnessed before. “It was wild. People were on cars!” he exclaimed, admitting, “I might have jumped on one at one point, too.”
To celebrate the city that never sleeps, Variety threw The New York Party Thursday night at Living Room Bar & Lounge in the Flatiron District. The event honored Staten Island’s own Pete Davidson, who graced the cover of Variety’s New York issue. In a career-spanning interview with chief correspondent Marlow Stern, the comedian opened up about leaving “Saturday Night Live,” his famous exes and the concussion he suffered while shooting the film “Tommy Karate.”
Still recovering from the injury, Davidson wore a pair of blacked-out sunglasses while driving himself to the Living Room Bar & Lounge. Decked out in an oversized chocolate-brown leather jacket, Davidson posed on the red carpet and embraced Variety’s co-presidents Ramin Setoodeh (also the publication’s co-editor-in-chief) and Dea Lawrence. He was later spotted mingling with fellow comedian Matt Friend, news icon Gayle King, “The View’s” Ana Navarro and “Subway Takes” host Kareem Rahma. Gilded Age glamour met modern Manhattan nightlife inside the grand lounge, where guests were greeted with glasses of champagne. As they noshed on lobster rolls and tuna tartare, the evening gave the mix of media personalities a chance to toast the city and reflect on what makes New York so special.
“It all started for me with these interviews I did on the streets of New York and doing impressions,” Friend said. ”There’s nothing like this city.” See more photos: