The streets outside the American Museum of Natural History were cold and lonesome on Thursday night, but Louis Armstrong’s crooning of “What a Wonderful World,” playing from the building’s majestic entrance, welcomed guests in tuxedos and glittering dresses. They quickly warmed up as they entered a boisterous cocktail party held beneath the 50-foot display of a Barosaurus.
Power players from Manhattan’s television, media and political scenes traded industry gossip while servers strode past dinosaur legs with trays of lobster tartlets and hoisin duck sliders. Also mingling were “Saturday Night Live” cast members including Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Sarah Sherman, and former hosts like Alec Baldwin and Melissa McCarthy.
The museum’s annual fund-raising gala is co-chaired by Lorne Michaels, the ‘S.N.L.’ creator and executive producer, and the event has become something of an informal holiday season gathering for the cast.
“Every year, we sit under the whale,” Ms. Fineman said. “Whale time, I like to call it. It’s a special time to get to all hang out. We don’t get to party outside of the show that much. And it’s nice to give back to the city.”
“We’re not forced to come,” said Mr. Thompson, wearing sunglasses. “We are lovingly asked.”
He considered where he might slumber if given the chance to enjoy one of the museum’s sleepover nights.
“The crystal room,” he said. “My mom’s into crystals and seems to think they have abilities, so it would be interesting to tap into that. I can’t feel it necessarily, but maybe you spend a night in a room full of them, and that might change?”
Taking a moment’s calm to himself in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals was the evening’s performer, Noah Kahan, the rootsy New England singer-songwriter. He wore a Paul Smith blazer embroidered with birds, butterflies and turtles.
“I spent a lot of time here as a kid with my family,” he said. “One of my favorite cool memories was coming to the Natural History museum. So we’re definitely going to be playing some songs that touch on growing up.”
Soon the crowds moved through the halls — past a dodo bird, African elephants and a giant clam — to reach the gala dinner inside the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life, which houses the museum’s famed hanging blue whale.
Guests were served plates of winter greens salads and coffee-crusted filet mignon. A lively auction was led by Sara Friedlander, who operatically stumped for lots like a private sleepover at the museum. As she galvanized the crowd to put up money for the offering, which invited an intimate group of children and their chaperones to slumber inside the museum, bidding sticks popped up like gophers across the room.
“This could be the built-in bar mitzvah that you’ve all been waiting for,” she said. “Core memories, people. Core memories.”
The lot sold for $50,000.
Finally, when Mr. Kahan took the stage with his band, the opening mandolin riff to “All My Love” rang out through the hall. The youngest “S.N.L.” cast members rushed to the stage area to bob and sway as if they were at a high school dance.
“Some of my biggest family fights ever were right here under this whale,” said Mr. Kahan, before he tore into “Deny Deny Deny.”
As the night closed out, and people wiped sweat off their brows and walked through the cavernous museum to the coat check, guests approached Mr. Michaels to pay their respects.
Prompted by a reporter, Mr. Michaels considered how the gala — which raised over $3 million for the museum — has also become something of an “S.N.L.” holiday tradition.
“It’s a night out for all of us,” Mr. Michaels added. “But we’ll all be in the studio tomorrow morning.”
Alex Vadukul is a features writer for the Styles section of The Times, specializing in stories about New York City.
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