Letterman Goes Easy On Poisoned Piven

Jeremy Piven and his terrible case of sushi-related mercury poisoning got off easy during last night's Late Show appearance. David Letterman skipped questions prepared by the National Fisheries Institute—such as "why is it that people in Japan eat far more fish than you, yet don't complain about mercury poisoning?"—and let the actor explain why he bailed on Speed the Plow, the New York Post reports.

A doctor told Piven he'd have a heart attack if he did the play, he explained to Dave, and "then this kind of turned into, I ate a bad piece of yellowtail and bolted." Mercury poisoning "sounds like a rich man's disease," Piven added, "like something you might get from the leather seats in your Lamborghini."
(More Jeremy Piven stories.)