Inside the Time 100: Biden toasts Boston, says 2014 will be ‘most attended marathon in history’

NEW YORK—The Time 100 gala took place steps away from Central Park, Lincoln Center and Times Square. But for hundreds of "influential" people in attendance at the black-tie event here celebrating the magazine's annual list, their thoughts were in Boston.

“We’ve suffered loss and we’re grieving, but we’re not bending,” Vice President Joe Biden, one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World, said. “I promise you, next year’s marathon will be the biggest, most significant, the most attended marathon in history. That’s who we are. That will happen. That will happen.”

Like the first responders in Boston and West, Texas, Biden said, the Time 100 honorees "are people who refuse to yield, refuse to bend, refuse to bend to the pressure of orthodoxy, are unafraid to question conventional wisdom, refuse to be intimidated."

[Slideshow: Inside the 2013 Time 100 party]

"Our belief in America is that of every difficult moment in our history, we've come out stronger," he continued. "We actually believe that. And I'm absolutely confident that we will come out of this recent tragedy this last week stronger, because Americans believe that we can make hope and history arrive. It's stamped in our DNA."

Biden did not attend the cocktail party before dinner, but dozens of honorees did, including Sen. Rand Paul, United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Lena Dunham, Brian Cranston, Grammy-winning R&B stars Miguel and Frank Ocean, and former Sen. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, who paused for a photo with Daniel Day-Lewis and Steven Spielberg after the actor and director came through the Secret Service's metal detector.

Mia Farrow, sporting a Boston Red Sox T-shirt, held court with reporters who recognized her from her Twitter feed rather than her work as an actress.

Farrow hugged Giffords. Doris Kearns Goodwin, glass of wine in hand, hugged Day-Lewis. Fallon hugged everybody.

Later, during dinner, Kimmel toasted his late-night rival.

"There's a group of people who are, some of whom are represented here tonight, who I believe are even more important than the politicians, the astronauts, activists, maybe even important than the doctors who are working on a cure for cancer and HIV, and that is comedians," Kimmel said. "Jimmy is probably a bigger influence on me than anyone in this room, because he's so talented and energetic that ... quite frankly, it's a pain in the ass."

[Related: Time’s 100 ‘Most Influential’ list includes Obama, Malala, Mayer]

"I also want to toast maybe the funniest guy in this room, maybe the funniest of all of us, Vice President Joe Biden," Kimmel said. "Remember that time he told everyone the president supported gay marriage before the president had a chance to? That was hilarious."

Kimmel even had a joke aimed at Marissa Mayer, Yahoo's chief executive and fellow Time 100 honoree.

"You know, I live in Los Angeles, so I wasn't planning to be here tonight," Kimmel said. "But Marissa Mayer said I had to come in, and she's very influential."