Kevin Spacey’s four seasons playing Francis Underwood on House of Cards is starting to affect his real-world persona.
To promote the show’s upcoming season, as well as Spacey’s new acting course from online tutorial service Masterclass, Spacey and Jimmy Fallon held an acting competition on Tuesday’s episode of The Tonight Show. However, unlike on the real Masterclass, where laypeople perform and get feedback from celebrities, Spacey and Fallon were judged by a panel of children on how they read fake scenes inspired by the title of Spacey’s hit Netflix show — which were also written by kids.
Surprisingly, only some of the scenes involved literal houses made out of cards.
Spacey, his “master” title on the line, stopped at nothing to win the kids’ approval, but Fallon had no intention of backing down either: cue the awards jokes, celebrity impressions, wigs, and tears. The whole thing was quite masterful, indeed.
Season 4 of House of Cards launches on Netflix March 4. Inspired actors can sign up for Kevin Spacey’s acting course at Masterclass.