Tonight, Jimmy Fallon and his Late Night crew will debut part one of the third episode of their criminally brilliant “Downton Sixbey†— and we got our hands on a 30-second teaser that’s sure to please fans: Lady Whoopi continues to appall the Dowager Countess, and Lord ?uestlove is planning to pop the question! Did Lady Hedith ensnare him with her drum skills?
A little backstory: Fallon and his head writer A.D. Miles, both Downton fans, decided to revive “Sixbey†after the premiere of Downton season three. “We thought, well, it seems like the Abbey mania is still going,†Miles told us. “We had so much fun doing the last one, and the guest stars that we brought in kept relaying their enthusiasm.†Sadly, there are no new guest stars tonight, but the fourth episode — if they manage to pull it off amid their hectic late-night schedule — will be a wedding episode. Which means guest stars galore, Miles says.
So what can we expect from tonight’s installment? Romance is in the air for some downstairs people, Miles tells us. And he’d really like for you to appreciate his Dowager Countess costume. “I’m a dude in my early forties, so it involves a significant amount of corseting to squeeze this shape into anything that looks like a woman.†(For the record, all the costumes are handmade, “which is crazy for late night,†he says.) As for the origins of ?uestlove’s proper but not-quite-British accent, Miles says that was all ?uestlove. “I don’t give notes to ?uestlove,†he says.
The second part of episode three will air tomorrow night. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon airs at 12:30 a.m. ET on NBC.