Air Fryer Updates & The Art of Mentalism

Summary

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The Nightly – “Air Fryer Updates & The Art of Mentalism”

May 7, 2026 | Hosts: Matt Bragg & KP Parker | Produced by Hatch

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Episode Overview

Tonight’s episode of The Nightly offers a cozy, meandering late-night chat between comedians Matt Bragg and KP Parker. The hosts dive into the newfound joys and dilemmas of kitchen appliances (with a special focus on air fryers and food processors) before wandering into a playful discourse about pets, sleep struggles, and the beguiling world of mentalism and magic. The tone is light, witty, and intermittently irreverent as the pair muse on everyday obsessions and the little marvels that keep their minds spinning after dark.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Matt’s Air Fryer Obsession and Appliance Diplomacy

Timestamps: 00:32–05:15

• Matt’s New Costco Air Fryer: Matt reveals his recent “coming out” as an air fryer user, spurred by a new Costco card—“Burning a hole in the wallet.” [00:48]
• Hyperbole and Riffing: They riff on the air fryer’s ubiquity, joking, “You can air fry anything… We had some shredding to do recently and I was like, just chuck it in the air fryer.” (Matt, [01:20])
• Dual Basket Upgrade: Matt’s excitement centers around the two-basket model—”You can do the main and the side simultaneously, or main and dessert if you want.” [02:01]
• Appliance Showdown: KP pushes Matt to pick between the air fryer and food processor, sparking a mock-dramatic debate about “choosing between children.” Matt admits: “I actually think… I would keep the blender because I’m enjoying the smoothies so much.” [05:01]
• Dreams of Dips and Juice: KP fantasizes about becoming a celery juice person, to which Matt assures: “You can juice with this. I’ve had juice with this.” [03:14]
• Consumer Anxiety: Both admit to wanting every kitchen gadget, but lack the counter space.

Notable Quote

• KP: “Is this blendable or air friable? It’s only one or the other. Which category does this fit into? And if it doesn’t fit into either, it’s nothing to me.” [03:42]

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2. Oranges, Animal Antics & Cat Couture

Timestamps: 05:15–11:40

• KP’s Backyard Orange Bounty: KP reveals a backyard orange tree yielding 35 large, nearly seedless oranges. Matt marvels—“I love oranges.” [05:23]
• Squirrels vs. Citrus: Discussion includes how citrus repels squirrels and using hot spices to deter them without bothering birds—“Birds cannot taste heat, but squirrels do.” (KP, [06:44])
• Cat Sunglasses from Portugal: Matt’s girlfriend returns with a gift—not for Matt, but for their cat Claudia: white-framed, pink-lensed cat-eye sunglasses. [08:28]
• Prescribed for Style: “I assume prescription.” (KP, [08:43]), “Absolutely. Prescription. Yeah. They’re her readers.” (Matt, [08:45])
• Pet Sleep Sabotage: KP vents about sleep issues since her boyfriend’s cat, Sybil, started visiting—describing cats as nocturnal mischief-makers. [09:56–10:46]
• Animal vs. Baby People: The hosts deliberate on the personalities who prefer pets vs. babies, trading playful shots at both camps.

Memorable Moment

• KP: “She [Claudia] looks like the coolest. She knows she’s cool, which is awesome.” [08:53]

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3. The Lure of Mentalism and Magic

Timestamps: 11:54–18:20

• YouTube Deep Dive: KP describes being mesmerized by an epic five-hour YouTube video debunking “mentalism”—mind-reading presented as sensing subtle cues, not magic. [12:15–13:51]
• Enjoying Wonder: Both hosts express a love of being amazed by magic and mentalism, preferring the mystery over knowing the secrets.
  • Matt: “I’m more than happy to just sit in the wonder of it.” [14:44]
• British Mentalists and Exposés: Matt highlights Derren Brown’s stunts exposing fraudulent psychics—detailing a favorite where a ghost hunter reacts to fake histories planted by Brown’s team. [15:08–15:59]
• KP’s Favorite American Magicians: KP shares a mind-blowing Justin Willman routine involving memorizing zip codes and orchestrating a trick involving the audience’s seats. [16:09–16:56]
• Spectacle and Stunt Magic: Side tangent on Vegas shows and magicians like David Blaine, who famously stunts for days at a time (e.g., box above the Thames). [18:05–18:14]

Notable Quotes

• Matt: “What was it that Churchill said? Was it ‘Never have so many owed so much to so few’? And that is how I feel about the creators of the air fryer.” [19:06]
• KP: “I do not want to know how it’s done. I just enjoy the magic of that.” [17:31]

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4. Winding Down: Humorous Goodnights

Timestamps: 18:35–19:28

• Bedtime Thanks: KP bids “a sweet good night to the inventor of air fryers,” with Matt riffing on Churchill to sum up his gratitude. [18:52–19:06]
• Wink to Mentalists: Matt goodnights “the mentalists out there, but really probably didn’t need to because they already knew that.” [19:22]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I think it [the air fryer] solved so many problems I didn’t even know that I had.” — Matt, [01:25]
• “She looks like the coolest. She knows she’s cool, which is awesome.” — KP, [08:53]
• “We’re all doing tricks. We’re all making you feel the way we want you to feel. It’s very fun.” — KP, [16:09]
• “You can still feed the birds… but the squirrels will not.” — KP, on hot spice as squirrel repellent, [06:44]
• “Is this blendable or air friable?” — KP, [03:42]
• “What was it that Churchill said? …That is how I feel about the creators of the air fryer.” — Matt, [19:06]

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Episode Highlights by Timestamps

• 00:32 – Matt’s Costco air fryer story begins
• 02:01 – The joy of dual-basket appliances
• 05:15 – KP’s backyard orange tree and citrus talk
• 08:28 – Cat sunglasses anecdote
• 10:08 – Cats in the bedroom: sleep sabotage tales
• 11:54 – Mentalism, skepticism, and magic
• 15:08 – Derren Brown’s psychic exposés
• 16:09 – Justin Willman’s zip code trick
• 17:31–18:20 – The fun of magic without explanation
• 18:35–19:28 – Playful bedtime goodnights

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Summary Tone & Style

Conversational, silly, and comforting—Matt and KP’s banter is filled with wit, curiosity, and affectionate mockery of late-night obsessions and pet antics. The spirit is one of cozy, comedic companionship, encouraging listeners to wind down with a smile and a sense of wonder.

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Recommended for:
Podcast lovers seeking gentle, humor-driven conversation about everyday marvels, comfort foods, insomnia, pets, and the mysteries of the mind—drifting naturally from small appliances to the grand spectacle of magic.

Transcript

[A]

Hello. You're about to drift into an episode of the Nightly, a podcast designed to help you unwind and relax. For the full phone free immersive light experience, visit Hatch Co. Enjoy. Alright, I'm Mat.

[B]

And I'm kp. Welcome to the Nightly from Hatch, where your late night thoughts go to rest. Matt, you recently said that you got an air fryer at Costco and I've been thinking all about that and I need to know, how's it going?

[A]

I've come out as an air fryer user. It's a new purchase from my new Costco card. Burning a hole in the wallet.

[B]

Wow. Have you been more than once now to Costco or are you still just the one?

[A]

I've not had chance. I did try. I've tried. I thought I could squeeze it in at the weekend. I said to my girlfriend, I was like, if we leave now, we could get like an hour in there. And she was like, please stop. We'll go again when we've got time. But the air fryer? Yeah, you can air fry anything.

[B]

Absolutely. It seems. And yet I'm still shocked each time somebody finds something new.

[A]

That's the thing. There's always something. I mean, I would use it for everything if I could. We had some shredding to do recently and I was like, just chuck it in the air fryer. Anything. Just. I think it solved so many problems I didn't even know that I had.

[B]

I hate to hear this because I've been thinking that it was just a trend that was gonna go away, but I am. I see every video and I go, well, yeah, that looks better than every other way of cooking it.

[A]

Two baskets as well. That can't go unmentioned for any longer because I did have a single basket.

[B]

It cannot. So this one from Costco has two baskets.

[A]

It's a dual basket. Yeah. So you've got. You can do the main and the side simultaneously, or main and a dessert if you want.

[B]

Well, what kind of dessert would air fry?

[A]

I think if you really put your mind to it, you could make a cake.

[B]

You've gone mad with power.

[A]

I've gone a little bit mad.

[B]

This is Evil Scientists. This is not. You're using it outside of the realm of what you're supposed to.

[A]

It's not even just the air fryer. You might remember from the Costco trip. I also bought a food processor that

[B]

is really appealing to me. That may be even more than air fryer. I just am like, I want dips. I love dips.

[A]

Dips. Huge the crushed ice thing, I really want to use that, but I've not got the base ingredients for that yet.

[B]

Now can you. You can just dice, right? You can just like if you put a carrot in, it'll just make a diced carrot.

[A]

Slice or dice, I think.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

I've seen the slice feature. I've not seen the D feature, but I, I imagine it does if you really want it to.

[B]

I mean, there's an appliance for everything and I don't have the counter space for any of this. But here's the things that I feel I'm missing. I'd love to be making just like celery juice. That seems nice to me ever since I heard about it one week ago. It sounds refreshing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I would need a juicer. That's the thing.

[A]

I think you could juice with this. You can juice with this. I've had juice with this.

[B]

Oh my gosh.

[A]

You want. It's like a five in one or something. But I still think you look at celery juice now and go, that would be really good. When it comes down to it, you're going to want to do more than that.

[B]

Of course. Of course.

[A]

Like I see something and I either. I either want to air fry it or I want to blend it. Now that's the way I view the world through that.

[B]

Is this blendable or air friable? It's only one or the other.

[A]

Which category does this fit into? And if it doesn't fit into either, it's nothing to me.

[B]

I'm not even eating that. It's not edible, clearly. Because I need to be blending it or frying it. Yeah. This is really, this is really hard to hear. I'm even still locked up that I don't have a rice cooker. That's something I'd like or an insta pot or like a pressure cooker. I don't know. I need one. Something like that.

[A]

Yeah. I still think I. I still think a rice cooker's a bit. I see it in the same way that I would see the, the garlic crusher where I just. The juice isn't worth the squeeze in terms of I've got to wash this up and what, just for the sake of crushing some garlic?

[B]

That is really tough.

[A]

Yeah, the rice cooker's a big thing. It's a big washing up job.

[B]

If you could only pick one. The air fryer or the food processor. You're going air fryer right now.

[A]

Oh, don't do this to me.

[B]

I know these are your Two. It's really your two babies, huh?

[A]

Would you do this to a parent? Would you go to a parent and say, go on. Which kid?

[B]

I'm saying you must get rid of one of your children.

[A]

If I had a child, genuinely, it would be the child in this scenario.

[B]

Of course. Of course.

[A]

I actually, I think based on the fact that theoretically I could do a lot of what the air fryer does using the oven or the hob.

[B]

Yeah, that's true.

[A]

I would keep the blender because I'm enjoying the smoothies so much. The weather's turning. It's hot outside.

[B]

That is really true. Okay. I think that's a good choice. Especially I think I've told you I have an orange tree in my backyard.

[A]

You have not mentioned this.

[B]

Oh, there's. Right now, I mean, I have to harvest. I have probably 35 oranges that are ready for me to eat right now.

[A]

I love oranges.

[B]

I love them too. They're really good. So that would be really great to just throw in.

[A]

Are they like the big.

[B]

They're big, yeah. Yeah, they're like the baseball sized ones. They're just big oranges and they don't have, you know, just some California trees. Just they're bred. So they don't have seeds. I don't know. There's something going on with that. But these ones. Yeah, they don't have seeds. They have a few. You might catch a few, but really not too much.

[A]

That was going to be my next question, actually, because that's the one drawback you'd get. I like an easy peeler.

[B]

This is an easy peeler. There's like two seeds in each orange that you're like, oh, whoops.

[A]

That is incredible.

[B]

I know.

[A]

How long have you got to eat them before they go a bit off?

[B]

It's kind of. This has so far been a bit year round, but there's definitely better parts of the year for this. So I'm at the end. This is kind of. This is the last week until they go sour again because there's some. It's like one in six now. Or I'm like, that's pretty lemony. That's too early or too late. I don't know. And what's nice is the squirrels don't like the oranges. They're not citrus fans. So I don't get robbed very often.

[A]

Wow, that is good as the orange. Got any natural predators?

[B]

Honestly, a lot of animals don't like citrus. They just are not interested.

[A]

I had heard that because that's what you're supposed to do with a cat, isn't it? If you don't want a cat on the side, put an orange on the top.

[B]

Yes. Yeah, this is. And apparently another little sick trick if the squirrels are getting. Getting your fruits. Birds cannot taste heat. So birds, if everybody likes birds, you know, birds are cute to have around the yard, but they don't have, like, the capability to taste cayenne, but squirrels do. So you're supposed to sprinkle hot spice at the bottom of your trees and the birds will still get to be cute and all around in your yard, but the squirrels will not.

[A]

Oh, that's good. So you can still feed the birds.

[B]

My thing is, I think the squirrels are cute. I've never been terrorized by them like others have, but to me, squirrels are adorable. I think they're. It is tough when they're, you know, taking your sweet harvest that you were excited for. But I have an abundance of oranges, so I'm not the target audience for squirrel hating. I think they're really quite adorable.

[A]

I do as well. I think that's it, isn't it? They're really cute until they're not. Same with things like possums. I think they're really cute.

[B]

I think they're so cute. I find most mammals, I find a kinship. There I go. It's hard for me to dislike something that seems mammalian.

[A]

What's really good as well is. I can't believe I've not told you this before. My girlfriend went away for a couple of days to Portugal. Came back, she said, I didn't get you a gift. Which is normally. That's the rules. If you go away for a few days, you've got to bring something back.

[B]

Gotta get me a little something. Yep.

[A]

Even if you forget and you just bring me back a Toblerone from the airport. Get an F, she said. I did get the cat something. Oh, so you'll remember Claudia.

[B]

I remember Claudia. Absolutely.

[A]

Check these out.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. Folks, I am looking at cat sunglasses and they're cat eye glasses.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They're white framed with little pink rose colored lenses.

[A]

They're really cool, aren't they?

[B]

Oh, my gosh. I assume prescription.

[A]

Absolutely. Prescription. Yeah.

[B]

Reading.

[A]

They're her readers.

[B]

Yes. Oh, my gosh. She looks incredible.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

She's wearing them and she looks like the coolest. She knows she's cool, which is awesome.

[A]

She does. Yeah.

[B]

She knows she looks good.

[A]

She does. She can even do a little. A little kind of, you know, a look over the top of them.

[B]

Oh, I love when they do that. That is incredible. Well, that's even better than an airport Toblerone.

[A]

Yeah, it actually is. I initially was very disappointed, but couldn't have worked out better.

[B]

It's paid off. It's paid off time and time again, it seems.

[A]

I don't even know where you get them from. I don't know whether it's a Portuguese thing. Maybe. Do all their cats wear glasses?

[B]

I don't know. I mean, those just seem like they might have been fortuitous doll sized. That maybe Claudia is just the size of a nice little doll.

[A]

Yeah, maybe that's what. Yeah, maybe that is. Maybe they're not actually four cats per se.

[B]

It looked like a perfect fit.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Do you think it matches her personality A bit. Those like kind of diva. Yeah, a bit of sass riding in a convertible.

[A]

Yeah, she's got a problem.

[B]

Yeah. There's something very leading lady diva about those.

[A]

Yeah, I think that. I mean, that would fit most cats, to be fair, wouldn't it? I suppose.

[B]

Yeah. It's true. I'm having some, you know, and this is the right place to bring it up, sleep issues. Because my boyfriend did just bring over his cat, who looks a lot like Claudia, by the way, a tuxedo.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Girl cat. Very quite, quite cute. Her name is Sybil.

[A]

Sybil, Good name.

[B]

At night, Sybil's. Sybil's jumping around the head area.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, she'll do.

[B]

This is just what they like to do every time I have cat sit. The cat's just active during the sleeping hours.

[A]

Yeah, that's kind of what they do. I mean, she's getting better at just. She can curl up on the bed and just sleep. If she wants to muck about, she will. And the problem is as well you just say, right, we're gonna kick her out tonight. She can't sleep in it. Yeah, just. I'm way too soft. I can't look at her and go, I can't.

[B]

I know.

[A]

She'll be confused and she'll be on

[B]

her own for six hours. She'll be all alone.

[A]

I know, it's pathetic, isn't it?

[B]

She'll be lost and confused. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, they're so darn cute.

[A]

They're really cute.

[B]

We're supposed to have an animal in our lives. I guess I say that, but if you don't, your bras will probably happy as a clam. There's also a lot of work going into these things.

[A]

It's true.

[B]

Some people aren't Animal lovers, my friend is really. Every time we pass a dog, I'm always like, look, can you believe that? And she's like, okay, you're wasting my time.

[A]

Oh, come on.

[B]

But she's a baby lover now. She goes nuts for any baby off the street.

[A]

Find that weird?

[B]

I like both. Honestly, I do. I really have a good, good vibes with all small creatures. I have good rapport with them. I can make a good conversation with a baby. We understand each other. We're at the level loads in common. Yeah, tons. I love eating, I love sleeping.

[A]

Yeah, that's true, actually.

[B]

Yeah, I love crying, yelling. Those are my top things.

[A]

Tell me, kp, what? What else has been keeping you up this week?

[B]

You know, I haven't scrolled too too much, but when I have, I came across a five hour video which is long. This five hour video is on the idea of mentalism. Now, do you know mentalism?

[A]

Remind me. Because I get confused between it's sort of like psychics and that realm, isn't it?

[B]

It is. So it's like magic. But mentalists don't want you to think it's magic. They're like, this is not magic. Mentalism is so different than that. It is in their words. In a mentalist words, I can know what you're thinking because I'm reading your body cues that you don't even know you're giving off. Go in your phone and think of any childhood friend. Look up their phone number and go ahead and shuffle this deck and look at the numbers. I came up with that phone number, right? So that is like, you know, it's not magic. It's me picking up on where your brain goes and all this and all this. So it's basically, it's a mind reading. But then they're like, I don't have any special gifts. I just have a talent for reading. That's what a mentalist would say.

[A]

Okay, so they're saying that because obviously if it's psychic, you're thinking like cold reading, those sort of techniques, Right? But with this, they're saying it's real. I'm just picking up on your subtle signals.

[B]

Right, right. Okay, now this five hour video is a person. And this is what I love about this person too. I don't know his name right now, but I'm sure you could find it with these terms. But he has no other videos on YouTube. This guy. The first video he makes on YouTube is a five hour takedown of the idea of mentalism with so much like play by play. He's like, you know, our age and he just really has a vendetta against mentalism. But not even, I mean he just was interested in figuring it out.

[A]

Right, okay.

[B]

It's not even ill spirited. He's. He's in a good mood about it. He just wants people to know what it actually is.

[A]

And why did you end up on this? Did you go out with the express intent of figuring out how mentalism works?

[B]

No, I just was recommended this. I really like video essays. Like I like going on YouTube and just usually I do historical ones where it's like, yeah, I want to learn all about that odd world wonder that was disappeared or whatever, you know, I like history ones but this video essay, I like philosophy ones too. And this one just caught my friend's eye and he knew that I would like it and so he sent it to me. So this was not even top of mind for me but it really scratched an itch where. I like, I like magic shows too and I'm very much not a person that is like, all right, now tell me how you did it. I really just enjoy being amazed. Yeah, I like the mystery of things. How do you act when a magician does a trick?

[A]

I'm the same as you. I'm more than happy to just sit in the wonder of it. Having said that, I do love, I do love shows like that. I think you really enjoy. Do you know Darren Brown, the. I don't know what he'd be classed as like he's a magician but he's a bit of a mentalist.

[B]

Oh, he's a mentalist, it says. Yeah, he's a mentalist and illusionist.

[A]

Illusionist, yeah.

[B]

That is really fun.

[A]

Did a brilliant series where he kind of exposed psychics like ghost hunters and stuff like that. And it's so fun to watch.

[B]

I would love to watch this.

[A]

Yeah, they did like they went to this place in, in England somewhere. I think it might have been an old theater actually or an old coaching inn or something. And they wrote up this entire fake history for it and put it on a website. And then they got this psychic ghost hunter in and he was in this, in this sort of part of it going, I can hear horses. That is where the horses here once I think somebody got run over by a horse.

[B]

So he was just repeating what he

[A]

had clearly researched and this is what their team had just put on a website somewh. And then they kind of confronted him about it and it's so good to watch. It's so entertaining.

[B]

That is so funny.

[A]

I love watching people get caught out.

[B]

I know. I mean, I don't begrudge anyone for being a fraud. It's so fun.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's funny to perform. It's performance. I'm like, nobody understands this better than us, where it's like, you're all doing tricks. We're all doing tricks. We're all making you feel the way we want you to feel. It's very fun. This is right up my alley that we have one guy who's kind of new and quite funny. His name's Justin Willman over here, and he does kind of comedy magic, and he did a trick that really blew me away. I think he. He asked everyone the zip code of where they're from, and he was able to immediately tell them what town. It was like he had memorized, it seemed, every zip code in America. It was just every single zip code, or vice versa. It's like they would say the town, even if the town was like. This person was like, yeah, there's 700 people in my town. And he was like, yeah, the town is 06.076. You know, whatever. He was able to memorize all of them.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And then it was some crazy trick on top of a trick where he did that in the beginning of the show, and then at the end of the show, he was like, now, why doesn't everyone look under their seats? And it was like everyone had the number written on their stamped seat or something. It was insane. No, it was really, really bizarre, where it was like, oh, it's not only that. In his brain is the numbers. He manipulated everyone to sit right where he wanted them to. Or he is really. He's an interesting guy, and he's. Yeah. Funny. I. I'm curious.

[A]

That is incredible.

[B]

I know. All of this is very, very cool to me.

[A]

Yeah, I agree. I'm all for stuff like that. And I agree as well. I do not want to know how it's done.

[B]

No, I just enjoy the magic of that. Like Penn and Teller, all the old. I mean, magic is. Is always very fun. I like all that. I should go to Vegas at some point because they have some of the crazy, like, body magicians, like David Blaine and Criss angel are two of our big ones where it's like they trapped themselves in, like, a water trap for seven days. David Blaine did that, where he was, like, tried to be inside underwater for seven days.

[A]

Oh, yeah. I remember over here, he did the box above the Thames when he just stayed in a glass box.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Somebody flew a drone up with a Big Mac on it.

[B]

All of that. That's less interesting than magic to me. But it's all in the same vein. It's fun to watch.

[A]

It's fun to watch. Yeah. Well, Vegas is the place for it.

[B]

I know. I never been. I do have to hit Vegas sometime.

[A]

It's.

[B]

I don't. I don't gamble much, but there's other things. I'm sure there's lobster buffets. That's a gamble in its own right.

[A]

That is a gamble.

[B]

With that, I think I will say a sweet good night to some people. We've spoke about today. How about tonight? It's going to be a sweet good night to the inventor of air fryers.

[A]

Oh, good one.

[B]

You know, I've never seen Matt this happy. His life has changed. He's floating, he's skipping around. And I thank you for that. So have a very, very restful night. Inventor of air fryer.

[A]

I agree. What was it that Churchill said? Was it never, never have so many owed so much to so few. And that is how I feel about the creators of the air fryer. But I'd like to say good night to all the mentalists out there, but really probably didn't need to because they

[B]

already knew that it's exactly right. Thank you and good night, Matt.

[A]

Night, K.

[B]

Sa.

[A]

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