Jeremy Piven gets no sympathy from co-stars Raul Esparza and Elisabeth Moss in “Speed the Plow”

 From Associated Content

Recently, Emmy winner Jeremy Piven spent his free time away from being Entourage’s Ari Gold and being John Cusack’s sidekick to go on Broadway. Piven was the headliner in David Mamet’s revival of his play Speed the Plow, about two Hollywood producers and a temp. However, the play made more news when Piven left it last week, due to an increasingly bizarre problem with a high mercury count and sushi. But while the press still tries to uncover what happened to Piven, his two former co-stars, Raul Esparza and Elisabeth Moss, may not be that broken-hearted about it.

According to sources for FOX News, after a Sunday matinee of Speed the Plow without Piven, Esparza addressed the audience to imply that things were running a lot better with Piven gone.

Esparza was quoted as saying “I’m sure you’ve read the headlines about the silliness in our show. Today was the first time I really enjoyed playing this show. I hope you weren’t expecting a big TV star.” Moss was also reported to be sobbing with laughter.

Piven left Speed the Plow after it debuted a few months ago. With his star power, Piven was the main attraction for the play, along with fellow cable TV star Moss of Mad Men fame. Esparza is more widely known among Broadway followers, with occasional guest spots on TV shows like Pushing Daisies.

But Esparza won most of the raves for Speed the Plow while Piven was less acclaimed thus far. The pairings of notorious high-wire Piven, the “outspoken” Esparza and the even more outspoken Mamet was bound to attract some on and off-stage fireworks. But no one expected this.

The actual response to Speed the Plow the play are now forever overshadowed by Piven’s condition, whatever it is. The new details and stories keep coming out every day about Piven’s health, and what he ate that caused it.

Piven has said he had high levels of mercury that caused him to leave Speed the Plow, with other reports saying that he had mononucleosis. The detail that is causing the most head-scratching is that Piven got this from eating bad sushi, according to his doctor.