Feline-based hallucinogen news, now, as we are given another glimpse into the world of cinema's Nicolas Cage. The genuinely nice thing about the Con Air star is that he does seem to regard being an actor as a bit of a joke – somewhat aptly, in his case – and is all the more lovable a screen presence for that.

Anyway, when last we caught up with Nicolas, you'll recall, he was in the process of divesting himself of some of his 15 residences, after the taxman had finally tired of his failure to meet tax demands. He'd already bid farewell to a Bavarian schloss, had put a Bahamian island up for sale, was on the point of doing the same with a trefoil-shaped castle near Bath, and was in a bate about the fact that four of his other mansions were being foreclosed upon. The fate of a flotilla of yachts, 22 luxury automobiles and a $276,000 dinosaur skull he'd purchased after a bidding war with Leonardo DiCaprio were uncertain.

Whether Nicolas has turned a financial corner we cannot say, but he was certainly singing for his supper on a US chatshow this week, barely settling into his seat before telling David Letterman how his cat Lewis had just adored the bag of magic mushrooms he'd kept in his fridge back in the day.

"He ate them voraciously," Cage explained gamely to Letterman. "It was like cat-nip to him. So I thought what the heck, I'd better do it with him."

Well, it's only sociable, isn't it?

"I remember lying in my bed for hours," he went on, "and Lewis was on the desk across from the bed for hours, staring at each other . . . not moving. But he would stare at me," Nicolas concluded sagely, "and I had no doubt that he was my brother."

Truly, he adds to the gaiety of every nation in which he owns a hopelessly mortgaged home.

All that remains, meanwhile, is to remind you of Lost in Showbiz's official policy as far as frothing emails and indeed comments from animal rights posters are concerned. All such missives are printed out and fed to actual animals – so once again you must decide whether you want to be part of the problem, or part of the solution.