Method
Okay, so there's a lot going on here, but I think much of it is clear to most of you so I don't have to dwell on the method.
You need to plan to do this somewhere where there's an interior doorway in your house. On the side of the doorway that isn't where you're gathered, there should be an area where you can ditch some stuff. Maybe a china cabinet you can throw things on top of or a vase you can toss stuff in or a piece of furniture you can throw something behind. That's really the only requirement.
The Word Reveal and Writing Appearance
Your stack of business cards is doubly gaffed. You're set up to do Out-to-Lunch with it, and the writing area is set up with a Psypher type impression surface.
OTL gets a bad rap, but I use it quite frequently with no issue. The problem is, as magicians, when we see a rubber-banded stack of cards, we immediately know whats up. But the overwhelming majority of people have never been introduced to this concept. If you want to avoid it, there are certainly other ways to do this same effect, but for me this is the most expedient and casual way. A stack of cards with a rubber band around them is not suspicious in any way. This is how many people have index cards or business cards in their junk-drawer at home. I have a no rubber band version that I use (that I'm assuming can't be original to me) that requires you to hold the stack when they write on it, but I like the freedom of being able to toss the stack to a person very casually. Toss them the marker. And have them write a word and set the stack down.
Once they set down the stack, I slide out the card and fold it into quarters with my head turned the complete opposite direction of my hands. (I know which direction to slide the card because the printed surface of the business cards is face up.) Then I set the folded card on the table and pocket the stack.
You can do the math on the rest of this, yes?
The Quick-Change
This is Calen Morelli's Dresscode. You want to be set up to go from Evil to Good, although you'll be in GOOD at the start.
The time it takes to do the quick change is the time it takes to rip off the goatee, toss it and the duplicate matchbox somewhere to hide them, then do the Dresscode switch which just takes a second or two.
Everything Else
The rest is pretty straightforward, I think.
The first time you go out to "get your evil twin," you should be in no rush. They will understand that you must be changing into your twin getup, and you want to establish that it takes a bit of time to go out, remove your hoodie, remove your t-shirt, put on a different t-shirt, put your hoodie back on and return. You want to establish this because later you will apparently do all that in a matter of seconds. It's going to take you some time anyway, because you're setting up the shirt and putting on the goatee and getting a peek at the word on the impression part of your stack of cards. My point is there's no need to rush it.
During this time make sure it's clear that you never go anywhere other than just out of view on the direct opposite side of the doorway. Feel free to put on a fake dialogue with your twin and flash your limbs every now and again. You want to make it clear that you didn't actually go anywhere which could confuse things later on.
I used to have some convincers that the matchbox the evil twin returns with is the same one as the one that was hidden, but that's the wrong way to go, I think. You actually want them to think it's a duplicate. I think you want to pile the climaxes on at the end, rather than have this one in the middle where you've somehow magically acquired the matchbox. Instead, you beat them senseless with climaxes at the end.
BOOM - He changes outfits in seconds.
BOOM - How did he know the word? I just assumed he was looking at a duplicate matchbox. Maybe he wasn't.
BOOM - But no, it must have been a duplicate. How else would the matchbox end up back in the hiding space.
BOOM - But it must have been the same one because it had the writing he wrote later in the trick on it.
One thing I've tried is, when "Randy" is writing something on the card, I fold the bottom of the card up and back, so that part can't be seen, then I hold the card in my left palm and invite someone to watch what I write on it. And then I write "What a homo" (or words to that effect) and laugh like a big jackass, and put my hand on the shoulder of whoever is watching what I write, really conspiratorially, and continue laughing and pointing at the guy who wrote the word on the card originally. In that way, not only do the words appear on the card in the box at the end, but someone saw exactly what you wrote, apparently. I'm not sure if it's better, worse, or the same. But it's something to consider.
Don't leave out the part where the Evil Twin writes the word in gibberish first. It gets a better reaction that way.
This trick gets really strong reactions, but it's also something of a grower, not a shower. The reactions build over time. This will sound like bullshit, but I think in the midst of the trick, people almost forget that there really isn't another entity helping with the trick. And it's only after the trick that they chew it over and realize the impossibility of it all. It's a trick that seems to extend some distance beyond the bounds of the room you're in and I've found it takes a little bit for people to remember you never actually left their sight. And when they do, that amps up the power of the effect.
But the true beauty of the trick is playing your own evil twin. If you're not going to really get into that, then don't even bother.
