Start counting your chips. On Tuesday, Vanity Fair and Peacock cohosted the game night to end all game nights ahead of the season two premiere of Rian Johnson’s Emmy-nominated series Poker Face, which begins streaming on May 8.
Le Chalet at L’Avenue, a venue famous for often hosting SNL afterparties, was transformed into an intimate poker den for the event, hosted by Poker Face star Natasha Lyonne and Vanity Fair’s editor-in-chief, Radhika Jones. Multiple poker games unspooled simultaneously, with dealers plucked from Leonardo DiCaprio’s private poker nights at Casa Cipriani. As DJ Rare Gems spun on the decks, Poker Face guest stars like Katie Holmes, Chloë Sevigny, and Steve Buscemi mixed and mingled with celebs like Janelle Monáe, Michelle Buteau, and Alex Edelman. The crowd dined on light bites, sipped themed cocktails, and called each others’ bluffs—at the poker table, of course.
Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo made it to the function despite having attended the Met Gala the night before. Although she performed at the legendary shindig last year with her Wicked co-star Ariana Grande, this year, Erivo was delighted to simply be a guest. “I love it when I get to just be a spectator and enjoy and dance,” she said. Erivo was certainly put to work in the season two premiere of Poker Face. She plays five characters simultaneously in the episode—a challenge even for someone talented enough to make singing “Defying Gravity” look like a walk in the park.
“I’m excited for it to come out,” Erivo said of the Poker Face premiere. “I’m excited to sit and watch it, and a little bit nervous.” While she’s adept at playing multiple characters at once, it had been a minute since she’d played a game of poker. “I haven’t played poker in a long time,” she said. “I used to play poker. I used to be quite good it, but I don’t know if I’m good at it now.”
The Practice’s Camryn Manheim, however, was a bit more confident in her poker-playing abilities. “I’m good enough,” she said. “Not only am I patient, but I’m very interested in all the stories people are telling me by their bets. I watch very carefully what the story is of their hand.” Later on in the evening, this writer would lose multiple hands in a row to Manheim at a table that also included Lake Bell and Showgirls star Gina Gershon. While Manheim was the most consistent winner, the most daring poker player of the night was Bell, who went all-in multiple times—and won each time she did.
Eventually, Lyonne made her way into the shindig, decked out in a white minidress and sunglasses. Fresh off the Met Gala herself, Lyonne said that she feels “tremendous” about the expanded twelve-episode second season of Poker Face. “I’m proud of the work we all did,” she said. “It’s a beast, this show, because it really is 12 movies, and week to week…” She pauses, taking a moment to reflect. “Man oh man. Those are logistics. You got to really commit and lock in, because we got 10 days to get it right. So go big or go home.”
Lyonne stars on the series as wisecracking Charlie Cale, a crime-solving ex casino worker who has the peculiar gift of being able to tell whenever someone’s lying. Lyonne herself has a similar ability. “I can sniff out bullshit pretty well,” she says. “It’s sort of like Charlie says in the pilot: ‘People lie all the time. The question is why they’re lying.’ I think there’s a fair amount that happens just to get by. People come by it honestly. But sometimes it’s weird and wacky, huh?”
Lyonne’s also not afraid to go big at the poker table—as long as it’s just for fun and games. “I do play a little bit of poker,” she said. “Not competitively. I’ve been asked, but I wouldn’t do that to myself.”
As the party continued, more stars joined in on the fun. Lyonne’s Orange Is the New Black cast mates Taylor Schilling, Alysia Reiner, Adrienne C. Moore caught up at a small table over a game of cards, laughing together. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s Carol Kane and Steve Buschemi chatted in the corner. After a long conversation with Sevigny on a couch, Holmes snacked on french fries; she put them down to take a photo with Bell, remarking on their similar blue floral pant suits. Playwright Jeremy O. Harris made it to the game night despite being out with Charli XCX until 11 a.m. in the morning post-Met Gala. “I’m not a 365 party girl,” he quipped.
Poker wasn’t the only game of the night. Ronan Farrow played a riveting game of Uno; in another corner of the room, Jenga towers toppled over next to TikTok star and Poker Face guest star Veronica Slowikowska. And new card games were tried as well. A long table was formed for Monae, Buteau, Orange Is the New Black star Dascha Polanca, The Undoing’s Noma Dumezweni, and a bevy of other guests so that they could play one called KaBoom! “I have never played poker. I don’t gamble,” said Dumezweni. “I gamble with my heart.”
Just as it does on Poker Face, everything came back to sniffing out bullshit. The long table ditched KaBoom! and went back to that classic card game. Buschemi, Polanco, Manheim, Moore, Monae and, yes, Lyonne played Bullshit well past closing time. We’ll let you guess who won.
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