Things to do on a Sunday in New York

This Friday, March 6, the Empire State Building will host its first-ever comedy show, transforming one of the world’s most famous landmarks into an intimate stand-up venue for one night only. The event pairs the Art Deco icon with Underground Overground Comedy, the NYC collective known for staging sold-out shows in venues ranging from Katz’s Deli to laundromats and vintage shops.

The 7:30pm show (doors open at 6:45pm) will take place inside the Empire Lounge, an event space that’s typically not open to the public. Guests can expect a 75-minute live set from Underground Overground’s secret lineup (they never announce performers in advance), along with complimentary food from Katz’s Deli and an open bar serving both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the show. (In other words, no wallet juggling between jokes.)

After the final punchline lands, the night continues with post-show access to the building’s second-floor museum experience and the iconic 86th-floor observation deck. It’s a rare chance to wander through one of New York’s most visited attractions without the usual daytime crowds—and this time with a buzz from both the skyline and the bar.

What does American art look like right now? According to the 2026 Whitney Biennial: complicated. Opening on March 8 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the exhibition gathers 56 artists navigating everything from AI belief systems to climate grief and geopolitical power.

Co-organized by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, the exhibition spans most of the museum’s galleries and extends into performance and public programming. The curators resisted the urge to build the show around a tidy thesis. “Rather than coming to our research for the Biennial with a preconceived container, Marcela and I let our conversations with artists guide us,” Sawyer said during an official preview. 

The participant list reflects that breadth. In addition to artists working across 25 states, the Biennial includes artists from Afghanistan, Chile, Iraq, Okinawa, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Vietnam—“places marked by the reach of U.S. power,” as the museum noted. The definition of “American art” here feels elastic and deliberately complicated.

Christie’s New York has brought together not only the world's premier collection of guitars but also very cool memorabilia from literature, sports, film and more as part of The Jim Irsay Collection, a free, open-to-the-public exhibition at 20 Rockefeller Plaza. On view from March 3 through 17, the collection will feature hundreds of incredible objects and cultural touchstones from throughout pop-culture history—we're talking Kurt Cobain's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" guitar, Ringo Starr's drums from The Beatles' historic The Ed Sullivan Show appearance, Miles Davis's trumpet and Elton John's piano, Babe Ruth's baseball and Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves, handwritten song lyrics from Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney, the original typescript scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, a real golden ticket from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and much more. 

The Alliance of Teatros Latinos NY is bringing back Teatro Fest NYC, a citywide performing arts Festival showcasing the breadth and vitality of New York's own Latinx theater scene. Running from March 1 through April 30, the series will unite ten leading Latinx theaters (including IATI Theater, Repertorio Español, Teatro LATEA and International Arts Relations) "in a shared celebration of storytelling, culture, and artistic innovation," says organizers, with a variety of experimental shows, classic works and multidisciplinary performances on the docket in English, Spanish, and bilingual formats. Check out the full festival schedule here. 

Looking for a fresh set of Harry Styles merch before the pop star's big residency in NYC? You're in luck. A Harry Styles pop-up shop is landing in the city this weekend, so get ready to shop 'til you drop and find the perfect piece to let him know you're his biggest fan.

After a three-year hiatus, Styles is officially back with his new album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally and kicking off his hot "Together, Together" tour starting in mid-May. To show fans love in advance of the tour, sixteen exclusive pop-up shops are opening around the world. One of them is right here in NYC. On Friday, March 6—the day of the album drop—the KATTDO pop-up shop will open at 106 North 6th Street in Williamsburg at midnight. Night owls can stay up to get first dibs until 2am. The shop will reopen later in the morning and will run through March 12.

What exactly will be inside the New York shop is still under wraps, but fans can likely count on fresh merch tied to the new album. Vinyl and even branded cameras are already up for pre-order online, so don’t be surprised if they’re stacked behind the counter. There’s also buzz about exclusive items you won’t be able to snag anywhere else, plus special drops for American Express cardholders.

Steven Soderbergh knows good movies—hell, he's given us Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, the Ocean's Eleven trilogy, Magic Mike and, most recently, Black Bag. So what better way to celebrate the Oscar-winning director's 63rd birthday than with a screening series handpicked by the filmmaker himself. From February 18 through April 15, "A MAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE: 63 Days of Steven’s Selects" will showcase nine personally and culturally influential films curated by Soderbergh, one from each decade of his life, with screenings alternating between Nitehawk Prospect Park and Nitehawk Williamsburg. The evening kicks off with a 63-minute Singani 63 Happy Hour featuring a rotating “Feature Cocktail” inspired by the evening’s film, followed by top-notch flicks like Trouble in Paradise, Notorious, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, The Servant, Jaws, Do the Right Thing, Fargo, Lost in Translation and Phantom Thread. Check out the full schedule here. 

After a sold-out 2025 run, Edge and live-event producer Fever are bringing back their Candlelight Evenings series, this time with a string quartet worthy of Lady Whistledown.

Bridgerton Candlelight Evenings at Edge will take place from 8pm to 9pm for just five nights (February 28, March 1, March 6, March 7 and March 13). Expect standing-room-only indoor pop-up performances featuring classical takes on the show’s swoony pop covers, all set against 360-degree views of the Manhattan skyline from 100 stories up. Thousands of candles will illuminate the space, transforming the sleek observation deck into something closer to a royal ballroom in the clouds.

The experience is open to all Edge ticketholders, meaning you can pair your concert moment with a wander onto the outdoor sky deck with its glass floor, angled glass walls and skyline steps spanning the 100th and 101st floors. During non-performance windows, all guests can take part in Bridgerton-themed photo ops, including an 8-foot wisteria arch and a Victorian-inspired gold-framed mirror.

Queens' own Robert Mapplethorpe is the subject of an expansive (literally) new photography exhibition at the Gladstone Gallery. From March 5 through April 18, the West 24th Street space will display 16 new large-scale, limited-edition photographs by the American photographer, organized in collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Most of the pieces will be presented in sprawling 60x60 inch format, ranging in subject from florals to female nudes to famous folks (Grace Jones, Patti Smith) and much more. Altogether, the works "demonstrate Mapplethorpe’s obsession with perfection, which he employed in his practice as a whole," per the gallery. 

Everyone's favorite foul-mouthed teddy bear is back this March, and Peacock is rolling out the red carpet with a night of bowling, debauchery and '90s nostalgia. To celebrate the new season of Ted, Peacock is taking over The Gutter for a house party that will take things all the way back to 1994. The Lower East Side bowling alley will trade its usual dive-bar cool for two nights of senior-year chaos, inspired by Ted and John’s latest misadventures.

The goal here is to get your head out of the clouds and back into the gutter, right where Ted likes to be. The party is set to be a throwback basement bash, complete with analog charm and IRL energy. There will be bowling (with a Ted twist), classic games, retro surprises, exclusive clips from the show, a few irreverent Easter eggs and nods to the show’s working-class Boston roots.

The party runs Friday, March 6 from 4pm to 1am and Saturday, March 7 from 1pm to 1am. It’s first-come, first-served and free to enter, with 18+ welcome until 7pm and 21+ after.

New York’s ongoing matcha obsession is getting a serious carb-forward upgrade this spring. Starting March 5 through the end of the month, Breads Bakery is rolling out a limited-time, matcha-packed menu that leans just as heavily into pastries and desserts as on cafe classics.

The brewed lineup includes a classic matcha latte, available hot or iced and made with your milk of choice, plus a straight-up whisked matcha for purists who want the full grassy, bold flavor without distractions. The real headline, though, is the baked menu. There's now a playful green twist on some of the bakery’s signature formats, including the Matchalach, a flaky laminated take on rugelach filled with creamy matcha, as well as matcha brioche buns stuffed with smooth pastry cream. A velvety matcha pound cake brings understated sweetness and crisp shortbread cookies with dark chocolate chips lean into the tea’s slightly bitter edge.

The limited-time lineup will be available at Breads Bakery locations across Manhattan—including Union Square, Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side—so consider this your cue to lean fully into green tea season while it lasts.