EVENT: Catch a glimpse of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons as they are blown up in preparation for their big moment on Thursday. Forty-three balloons -- from the giant balloons of Kermit the Frog and Spider-Man to the smaller ones like Frieda the Dachshund and Chloe the Holiday Clown -- are inflated along West 77th Street, Central Park West, and West 81st Street on the Upper West Side. The inflation is open to the public between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. -- if you go later, the balloons will look more familiar as they take shape but expect big crowds starting blocks away.

3 p.m. to 10 p.m. // Entrance at West 77th and Columbus Avenue [map] // Free

COMEDY: Louis C.K. has made a name for himself with his edgy, honest comedy. Chris Rock even said "Louis C.K. is the greatest comic mind of the last quarter century," which is some compliment. As part of Caroline's Thanksgiving lineup, he'll be taking the stage, and it should be well worth the ticket price.

7:30 p.m. // Caroline's [1626 Broadway] // $40

PARTY: Project Piff is hosting an Urban Gypsy Circus on Thanksgiving eve; a perfect way to preemptively burn off all those gravy calories! There will be go go dancers, a hookah lounge, spiked hot cider, smores (!) and plenty of good music to keep everyone dancing all night. Including live performances by Kagero, Consider the Source, Spills vs. FeleciaCruz, Miz Metro's Unlimited Live Remix Ride, Avnah, and Under the Rasta Influence.

8 p.m. // 171 Lombardy Street, Brooklyn // $10

FILM: Sure, Tim Burton is famous for great films like A Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands, but does anyone remember his creepy, stylized Sleepy Hollow? MOMA does, and is will be showing it for the current Tim Burton exhibition. Starring Johnny Depp (duh) as a young Ichabod Crane, on the hunt for the Hessian decapitator. And then Christopher Walken shows up with really pointy teeth and bites people. Seriously.

8 p.m. // MOMA [11 W 53rd St] // Free with admission

THEATER: Kenneth Lonergan's new play The Starry Messenger, um, stars Matthew Broderick as an astronomy teacher "struggling with a dead-end career and the monotony of suburban married life." A half-hearted affair with a nurse-in-training single mom is the complicated fruit of his the ennui. Time Out's David Cote gives the play five out of five stars, writing that the "genius of Lonergan's approach is to achieve breathtakingly specific and genuine epiphanies through finely tuned dialogue that flows organically from each situation. He evinces a wry sympathy for his creations, balancing glimmers of kindness against a vaster expanse of gloomy resignation."

8 p.m. // The Acorn @ Theatre Row [410 W 42nd St] // $61.25

Newsletter contributions from Jaya Saxena, John Del Signore, Jen Chung and Jen Carlson.