• "Stand Up for the Arts" dinner. Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W. 18th St., nr. Sixth Ave., 7 p.m. cocktails, 8 p.m. dinner. Bill Maher hosts expected guests Wyclef Jean, Joel Klein, and grown-up socialites Linda LeRoy Janklow and Richard Plepler, among others. Bill Maher will likely spew some Don Imus zingers that will make the gathered blue bloods cough reprovingly.

• "High Standard" gala benefit. Gustavino, 409 E. 59th St., nr. First Ave., 6 p.m. Playwrights Horizons annual fund-raiser will feature a solo cabaret performance by Christine Ebersole of Grey Gardens fame.

Or check out our Agenda listings for tonight, selected by New York's culture editors.