Piven picks up Karolina Kurkova

June 7th, 2006

It was a little bit like watching the band geek pick up the cheerleader when an awkward flirtation began between “Entourage” star Jeremy Piven and Karolina Kurkova Monday night.
Upstairs at the New York Public Library, where Piven was hosting Monday’s Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards, the actor nervously stopped by the supermodel’s table, but it was the cheeky Czech who initiated the mating dance.
First she made a face, then she stood up in her full 6-foot-3-inch stilettos glory and leaned over the table to introduce herself. Kurkova came around the table, and, within moments, Piven and the blond, green-eyed vixen were flexing their muscles at one another, making funny hand gestures and giggling wildly. Just in time for dessert, the two then started giving each other little hugs, with the 22-year-old stroking Piven’s arm seductively.
“It was like watching your little brother flirt with your crush,” one spy commented. Before his tete-a-tete, Piven, 39, had confessed his qualms to us about hosting fashion’s biggest night. “I am viciously underqualified to do this, but admitting that is the first step to making this okay,” said Piven.
The breakthrough star is apparently hilarious in an improvised job interview — using his Hollywood agent character - that masochistic “Entourage” fans can submit to on hbo.com as the show’s new season starts Sunday.