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* Mindy McCready's "Guys Do It All The Time" starts out with her coming home at four in the morning to an angry boyfriend, only for her to point out the DoubleStandard that men often go out drinking with their buddies until the wee hours and expect not to get hassled about it.
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[[quoteright:275:[[Webcomic/KiwiBlitz https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kb_benzene.png]]]]
png]] They're clearly expecting Ethanol at this point.]]
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[[quoteright:330:[[http://taintedink.com/?comic=287-curfew-2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lightswitch_surprise.jpg]]]]
%% This image is used with the express permission of the artist as long as we linked it back to his website. That's why the link goes there rather than to our page on the comic. Please leave it linked to the actual comic, not our page.
%% This image is used with the express permission of the artist as long as we linked it back to his website. That's why the link goes there rather than to our page on the comic. Please leave it linked to the actual comic, not our page.
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%% This image is used with the express permission of the artist as long as we linked it back to his website. That's why the link goes there rather than to our page on the comic. Please leave it linked to the actual comic, not our page.
%%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
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* Country singer Music/ColinRaye has a song called "That's My Story" in which he insists that he fell asleep in the back yard[[note]]He was actually up all night playing cards with his friends[[/note]] only to find out that his wife put the hammock in storage a week ago.
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* Country singer Music/ColinRaye Music/CollinRaye has a song called "That's My Story" in which he insists that he fell asleep in the back yard[[note]]He was actually up all night playing cards with his friends[[/note]] only to find out that his wife put the hammock in storage a week ago.
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[[folder: Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Archie comes home late. From upstairs his parents remind him that he was supposed to be home by ten. Archie responds that it is ten. [[InstantlyProvenWrong Just then, the cuckoo clock in the hall chirps twice.]] Archie sheepishly cuckoos eight more times.
[[/folder]]
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Archie comes home late. From upstairs his parents remind him that he was supposed to be home by ten. Archie responds that it is ten. [[InstantlyProvenWrong Just then, the cuckoo clock in the hall chirps twice.]] Archie sheepishly cuckoos eight more times.
[[/folder]]
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* In ''ComicStrip/AndyCapp'' Andy sneaks home to their bedroom late at night. The next frame is black, with a speech bubble from Flo asking "Is that you, Andy?", followed by another black frame, then another of Andy sitting up and saying suspiciously, "That's a funny sort of question." [[/folder]]
to:
* In ''ComicStrip/AndyCapp'' Andy sneaks home to their bedroom late at night. The next frame is black, with a speech bubble from Flo asking "Is that you, Andy?", followed by another black frame, then another of Andy sitting up and saying suspiciously, "That's a funny sort of question." "
* In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', a sequence of Peter sneaking in late after the prom [[BaitAndSwitch is framed as though a burglar is breaking into the house.]] We hear but don't see something clicking, somebody saying, "Freeze, mister!" and the response, "Aaaaah! Don't shoot!". Not a burglar holding Roger at gunpoint - Jason and Marcus catching Peter in the act with a flashlight and a dart gun.
[[/folder]]
* In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', a sequence of Peter sneaking in late after the prom [[BaitAndSwitch is framed as though a burglar is breaking into the house.]] We hear but don't see something clicking, somebody saying, "Freeze, mister!" and the response, "Aaaaah! Don't shoot!". Not a burglar holding Roger at gunpoint - Jason and Marcus catching Peter in the act with a flashlight and a dart gun.
[[/folder]]
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** In the reboot, Bubbles is in curlers sitting in chair angrily waiting for Donny the Unicorn to come home from a visit with a new friend. From the episode "Odd Bubbles Out."
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* In ''ComicStrip/AndyCapp'' Andy sneaks in late at night.The next frame is black, with a speech bubble from Flo asking "Is that you, Andy?", followed by another black frame, then another of Andy sitting up and saying suspiciously,"That's a funny sort of question." [[/folder]]
to:
* In ''ComicStrip/AndyCapp'' Andy sneaks in home to their bedroom late at night.night. The next frame is black, with a speech bubble from Flo asking "Is that you, Andy?", followed by another black frame, then another of Andy sitting up and saying suspiciously,"That's suspiciously, "That's a funny sort of question." [[/folder]]
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*In ''ComicStrip/AndyCapp'' Andy sneaks in late at night.The next frame is black, with a speech bubble from Flo asking "Is that you, Andy?", followed by another black frame, then another of Andy sitting up and saying suspiciously,"That's a funny sort of question." [[/folder]]
[[folder:FanWorks]]
* Harriett Potter in ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'' gets caught in [[spoiler: a gang brawl in the Lower Alleys]], causing her to arrive home well past curfew -- and her dad is in the living room. And her identity swap with her cousin, living each other's lives for most of the year, means that she's not very good at answering his security questions.
[[folder:FanWorks]]
* Harriett Potter in ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'' gets caught in [[spoiler: a gang brawl in the Lower Alleys]], causing her to arrive home well past curfew -- and her dad is in the living room. And her identity swap with her cousin, living each other's lives for most of the year, means that she's not very good at answering his security questions.
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[[folder:FanWorks]]
* Harriett Potter in ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'' gets caught in [[spoiler: a gang brawl in the Lower Alleys]], causing her to arrive home well past curfew -- and her dad is in the living room. And her identity swap with her cousin, living each other's lives for most of the year, means that she's not very good at answering his security questions.
[[/folder]]
* Harriett Potter in ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'' gets caught in [[spoiler: a gang brawl in the Lower Alleys]], causing her to arrive home well past curfew -- and her dad is in the living room. And her identity swap with her cousin, living each other's lives for most of the year, means that she's not very good at answering his security questions.
[[/folder]]
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*In ''Series/TheDayAfter'' a young woman creeps quietly home at daybreak after spending the night with her boyfriend, only to be confronted by her angry father. She points out that she is going to be married the next day, which is actually the source of his emotions- fear of losing his 'little girl'.[[/folder]]
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* In ''Film/HouseParty'', Kid has returned from the eponymous party, sneaking into the house through the window. He's just taken off his pants and is crawling into bed. Cue the voice of his father in the doorway.
-->'''Father:''' I wouldn't do that just yet. ''[belt snap]'' 'Cause your ass is mine.
-->'''Father:''' I wouldn't do that just yet. ''[belt snap]'' 'Cause your ass is mine.
to:
* In ''Film/HouseParty'', Kid has returned from the eponymous party, sneaking into the house through the window.house, thinking his pops was asleep. He's just taken off his pants and is crawling into bed. Cue the voice of his father in the doorway.
-->'''Father:''' -->'''Pops:''' I wouldn't do that just yet. ''[belt snap]'' 'Cause your ass is mine.
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* "Wake Up, Little Suzy" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.
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* "Wake Up, Little Suzy" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' ''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.
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[[folder:FanWorks]]
* Harriett Potter in ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'' gets caught in [[spoiler: a gang brawl in the Lower Alleys]], causing her to arrive home well past curfew -- and her dad is in the living room. And her identity swap with her cousin, living each other's lives for most of the year, means that she's not very good at answering his security questions.
[[/folder]]
* Harriett Potter in ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'' gets caught in [[spoiler: a gang brawl in the Lower Alleys]], causing her to arrive home well past curfew -- and her dad is in the living room. And her identity swap with her cousin, living each other's lives for most of the year, means that she's not very good at answering his security questions.
[[/folder]]
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* "Wake Up, Little Suzy" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.[[/folder]]
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* "Wake Up, Little Suzy" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.happening.
* Rick Gay's "I've Been Floating Down the Old Green River":
-->Half past four, Dan [=McGraw=], came sneaking to his wifey's door.\\
She'd been waiting up all night, waiting for him to go to bed.
[[/folder]]
* Rick Gay's "I've Been Floating Down the Old Green River":
-->Half past four, Dan [=McGraw=], came sneaking to his wifey's door.\\
She'd been waiting up all night, waiting for him to go to bed.
[[/folder]]
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realized I got events mixed up (the younger sister merely told the oldest one where Asalia had been)
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* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': Early in the game, Princess Asalia sneaks out to a wedding and comes back from it quite late into the night. She's caught by her younger sister, who tells their older sister, who tells their father.
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* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': Early in the game, Princess Asalia sneaks out to a wedding wedding, and comes back from it quite late into the night. She's caught by her younger sister, who tells their older sister, who tells their father.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': Early in the game, Princess Asalia sneaks out to a wedding and comes back from it quite late into the night. She's caught by her younger sister, who tells their older sister, who tells their father.
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': Early in the game, Princess Asalia sneaks out to a wedding and comes back from it quite late into the night. She's caught by her younger sister, who tells their older sister, who tells their father.
[[/folder]]
* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': Early in the game, Princess Asalia sneaks out to a wedding and comes back from it quite late into the night. She's caught by her younger sister, who tells their older sister, who tells their father.
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': Early in the game, Princess Asalia sneaks out to a wedding and comes back from it quite late into the night. She's caught by her younger sister, who tells their older sister, who tells their father.
[[/folder]]
* ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': Early in the game, Princess Asalia sneaks out to a wedding and comes back from it quite late into the night. She's caught by her younger sister, who tells their older sister, who tells their father.
[[/folder]]
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* ''Film/{{Rags}}'': Charlie realizes he's close to breaking his midnight curfew and sprints all the way home, sneaking in through the bathroom window to avoid being caught. However, his stepfamily were there waiting for him, catching him in the act...and he manages to get away with it, because he was a minute early, meaning no rules had actually been broken.
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* "Wake Up" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.[[/folder]]
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* "Wake Up" Up, Little Suzy" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.[[/folder]]
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* Country singer Music/ColinRaye has a song called "That's My Story" in which he insists that he fell asleep in the back yard[[note]]He was actually up all night playing cards with his friends[[/note]] only to find out that his wife put the hammock in storage a week ago.[[/folder]]
* "Wake Up" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.
* "Wake Up" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.
to:
* Country singer Music/ColinRaye has a song called "That's My Story" in which he insists that he fell asleep in the back yard[[note]]He was actually up all night playing cards with his friends[[/note]] only to find out that his wife put the hammock in storage a week ago.[[/folder]]
ago.
* "Wake Up" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.[[/folder]]
* "Wake Up" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.[[/folder]]
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* Country singer Music/ColinRaye has a song called "That's My Story" in which he insists that he fell asleep in the back yard[[note]]He was actually up all night playing cards with his friends[[/note]] only to find out that his wife put the hammock in storage a week ago.
to:
* Country singer Music/ColinRaye has a song called "That's My Story" in which he insists that he fell asleep in the back yard[[note]]He was actually up all night playing cards with his friends[[/note]] only to find out that his wife put the hammock in storage a week ago.[[/folder]]
* "Wake Up" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.
[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/MarvelRisingUltimateComics'', Dante tries to sneak home after being out too late, but his parents are there waiting for him.
* "Wake Up" by the''Music/TheEverleyBrothers'' is based on the fear of this happening.
[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/MarvelRisingUltimateComics'', Dante tries to sneak home after being out too late, but his parents are there waiting for him.
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[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/MarvelRisingUltimateComics'', Dante tries to sneak home after being out too late, but his parents are there waiting for him.
[[/folder]]
* In ''WebAnimation/MarvelRisingUltimateComics'', Dante tries to sneak home after being out too late, but his parents are there waiting for him.
[[/folder]]
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* ''Slip, Slip, Slippin'In'' by Eddit Bond.
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* ''Slip, Slip, Slippin'In'' Slippin' In'' by Eddit Eddie Bond.
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* ''Slip, Slip, Slippin'In'' by Eddit Bond.
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* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' season 4 episode "Deep Throats" plays this trope straight with [=Brian=] waiting in the living room to confront [=Meg=] with [[spoiler:her relationship with Mayor West]].
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* ''WesternAnimation/PeppermintRose'' begins with Rose stuck at home because she was grounded for coming home late the previous night.
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Typically, the guilty party is a husband or a teenage child who was hanging out with friends for too long, or they weren't supposed to have left in the first place and had sneaked out. Perhaps the character simply broke curfew and now hopes to return home without waking anyone. When this trope occurs with a husband coming home and a disapproving wife waiting at home, it simultaneously reinforces the stereotypes that husbands are untrustworthy or immature and that wives are nags.
to:
Typically, the guilty party is a husband or a teenage child who was hanging out with friends for too long, or they weren't supposed to have left in the first place and had sneaked out. Perhaps the character simply broke curfew and now hopes to return home without waking anyone. When the waiting party is someone's parents, they are oftentimes an EducationMama or OverprotectiveDad, and the child will be [[YouAreGrounded grounded]] as a result. When this trope occurs with a husband coming home and to a disapproving wife waiting at home, wife, it simultaneously reinforces the stereotypes that husbands are untrustworthy or immature and that wives are nags.
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Subtrope of TheAnticipator.
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Subtrope of TheAnticipator. Contrast with HomeEarlySurprise.
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* In ''Film/{{Footloose}}'', Ariel's father waits for her when she returns home late at night after curfew.
* In ''Film/BoogieNights'', Eddie's mother is waiting for him when he returns from a night out at Jack Horner's house. She makes a horrible scene which causes Eddie to leave home and move in with Jack.
* In ''Film/BoogieNights'', Eddie's mother is waiting for him when he returns from a night out at Jack Horner's house. She makes a horrible scene which causes Eddie to leave home and move in with Jack.
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[[quoteright:330:[[http://taintedink.com/?comic=287-curfew-2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lightswitch_surprise.jpg]]]]
%% This image is used with the express permission of the artist as long as we linked it back to his website. That's why the link goes there rather than to our page on the comic. Please leave it linked to the actual comic, not our page.
%%
A trope commonly found in WesternAnimation and sitcoms, this is when someone is out later than usual or is out when they aren't supposed to be. As quietly as they can, they enter their home... and are surprised to find their spouse or parents waiting for them, as they [[ThisIsGonnaSuck realize they're in for it now]]. The room is usually dark, with the waiting person's presence revealed [[LightswitchSurprise when a light is turned on]]. For dramatic flair, they might even [[EmergingFromTheShadows emerge from the darkness]] or pull a ChairReveal.
Typically, the guilty party is a husband or a teenage child who was hanging out with friends for too long, or they weren't supposed to have left in the first place and had sneaked out. Perhaps the character simply broke curfew and now hopes to return home without waking anyone. When this trope occurs with a husband coming home and a disapproving wife waiting at home, it simultaneously reinforces the stereotypes that husbands are untrustworthy or immature and that wives are nags.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Comedy]]
* This is the subject of a few Creator/JeffFoxworthy bits:
** There is, of course, every guy who stays out way too late drinking with his buddies.
---> "We always say something like, "Baby, I'll be back by 5:30, quarter 'till six at the latest." Then we come rolling in, like...February."
** And then there's teenage Jeff trying to sneak back into his house after curfew, only to meet "The Creature from the Bathrobe Lagoon".
---> '''Mom:''' I don't wanna know where you've been, what you've been doing, or who you've been doing it with.\\
'''Jeff:''' Thank goodness, Mom, 'cause the details are a little fuzzy to me at this point.\\
'''Mom:''' You march your fuzzy butt in here, mister. Now where were you tonight?\\
'''Jeff:''' Well, Mom, I was in a hot tub with ten naked women.\\
'''Mom:''' That is sick. I don't wanna hear about it.\\
'''Dad:''' Hold on, baby, I'd like to hear a few details. ''Ten'' of 'em, huh? That's my boy!
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* Happens in ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' with Jeremy sneaking home after his curfew and thinking he's got away with it, but his parents are laying inside his bedroom door in a sleeping bag. He faints.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Bob returns home, eats a slice of cake, and discovers Helen waiting up for him. Cue kung-fu pose with cake in hand.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/HouseParty'', Kid has returned from the eponymous party, sneaking into the house through the window. He's just taken off his pants and is crawling into bed. Cue the voice of his father in the doorway.
-->'''Father:''' I wouldn't do that just yet. ''[belt snap]'' 'Cause your ass is mine.
:: This is followed by an absolutely hilarious conversation during the credits as Kid's father monologues punctuated by cracks of the belt and Kid's cries of pain.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington From the Highlands]]'' reverses the usual parent-child version of this trope. At the end of the story, Anton sneaks back into his cabin to find his teenage daughter waiting up for him.
* Early into ''Literature/TheOutsiders'', 14-year old Ponyboy accidentally falls asleep with a friend and stays up past his curfew (which is 12 AM). When he arrives home at 3 AM his PromotedToParent brothers give him a scolding.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* On the show ''Series/TeenWolf'' Scott came home, closed the window, turned on the lights and BAM! There was Derek, sitting in a chair expectantly. Stiles went to Scott's house, went to his room, closed the door, turned on the lights and saw Scott sitting in a chair.
* In ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', in the episode "The Bizarro Jerry", Kramer returns home to Jerry's apartment after a day at "work", when he turns on the light and finds Jerry sitting in the dark. Jerry is sitting at the table and they argue about Kramer being late.
* ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'': TheStinger for "George Goes to Disneyland" has George coming home late and being greeted by Max, who reminds him that he called into work sick with a tummy ache. He then turns on the light to reveal George covered in Disneyland merchandise, and he yells "I knew it! You went to Disneyland without me!".
* In ''Series/StrangerThings'', when Nancy returns home late from Steve's party, her mother is waiting in the corridor to berate her.
* Played for laughs in ''Series/BlackBooks'', when Manny comes home from an evening out with friends to find Bernard sitting in a chair waiting up for him, with Bernard proceeding to yell at him like a parent who's been waiting for an errant child all night. For context, Manny is a middle-aged man and Bernard is merely his employer/landlord.
-->'''Bernard:''' Maybe all those other little boys who work in bookshops can do whatever they want, but you're under my roof! You'll follow my rules! This isn't Waterstones!
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music]]
* The Music/StephenFoster song "My Wife Is a Most Knowing Woman" has these lines:
-->Not often I go out to dinner\\
And come home a little "so so,"\\
I try to creep up through the hall-way,\\
As still as a mouse, on tip-toe,\\
She's sure to be waiting up for me\\
And then comes a nice little scene...
* Happens in the music video for "Love of My Life" by Music/ErykahBadu: she comes home late (and presumably drunk, given the way the music is "screwed" and the scene is blurry) with her date (actually Li'l Flip), to find her mother waiting on the couch and asking where she's been.
* Country singer Music/ColinRaye has a song called "That's My Story" in which he insists that he fell asleep in the back yard[[note]]He was actually up all night playing cards with his friends[[/note]] only to find out that his wife put the hammock in storage a week ago.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/MarvelRisingUltimateComics'', Dante tries to sneak home after being out too late, but his parents are there waiting for him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** One episode has Harold walking in with his wife there waiting, unknowingly to him, with wonderful news.
** This is played straight and inverted in an episode where the Professor begins dating a disguised Sedusa. The first time it's used, she scolds the girls for being out at night despite them being superheroes. Later on, the roles get reversed when the girls sit in the living room waiting for her to come home after a crime-spree.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', with Granddad and another one of his insane girlfriends.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' had an amusing example: Patrick came home from a party to a waiting [=SpongeBob=].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Brother from the Same Planet", Bart comes home from spending time with his "bigger brother" Tom. He opens the door to find Homer sitting on the stairs in the shadows. Homer confronts him about where he was.
-->"You've been out gallivanting around with that floozy of a bigger brother of yours, haven't you? ''Haven't you?!''
* A recurring sketch on BlackComedy ''WesternAnimation/MonkeyDust'': A sad looking man arrived home late at night to find his wife waiting up for him. He explains his lateness with an elaborate, detailed and dubious story. Skeptical wife asks him what he's really been doing. Man confesses to something disturbingly degrading. Funnier than it sounds.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "All About Steve" has a [[RuleOfThree three-fer]]. Stan comes home and walks into the living room, where Steve confronts him over having a black man else pose as him at a CIA softball game because he's ashamed that his son is a weak nerd. Then he enters the kitchen, where Francine chews him out about the same. Finally, he goes to the bathroom and is greeted by a bruised-up Roger, who tells him [[ItMakesSenseInContext "I got beat up by a taco"]].
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' attempts to pull this [[spoiler:on Hollyhock]] in Season 4, sitting in the dark for ''five hours'' to invoke it. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for him, he realizes only after trying to turn the light on that the bulb had burned out, prompting him to run out of the room to replace it, and ''then'' pull the trope off]].
[[/folder]]
----
%% This image is used with the express permission of the artist as long as we linked it back to his website. That's why the link goes there rather than to our page on the comic. Please leave it linked to the actual comic, not our page.
%%
A trope commonly found in WesternAnimation and sitcoms, this is when someone is out later than usual or is out when they aren't supposed to be. As quietly as they can, they enter their home... and are surprised to find their spouse or parents waiting for them, as they [[ThisIsGonnaSuck realize they're in for it now]]. The room is usually dark, with the waiting person's presence revealed [[LightswitchSurprise when a light is turned on]]. For dramatic flair, they might even [[EmergingFromTheShadows emerge from the darkness]] or pull a ChairReveal.
Typically, the guilty party is a husband or a teenage child who was hanging out with friends for too long, or they weren't supposed to have left in the first place and had sneaked out. Perhaps the character simply broke curfew and now hopes to return home without waking anyone. When this trope occurs with a husband coming home and a disapproving wife waiting at home, it simultaneously reinforces the stereotypes that husbands are untrustworthy or immature and that wives are nags.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Comedy]]
* This is the subject of a few Creator/JeffFoxworthy bits:
** There is, of course, every guy who stays out way too late drinking with his buddies.
---> "We always say something like, "Baby, I'll be back by 5:30, quarter 'till six at the latest." Then we come rolling in, like...February."
** And then there's teenage Jeff trying to sneak back into his house after curfew, only to meet "The Creature from the Bathrobe Lagoon".
---> '''Mom:''' I don't wanna know where you've been, what you've been doing, or who you've been doing it with.\\
'''Jeff:''' Thank goodness, Mom, 'cause the details are a little fuzzy to me at this point.\\
'''Mom:''' You march your fuzzy butt in here, mister. Now where were you tonight?\\
'''Jeff:''' Well, Mom, I was in a hot tub with ten naked women.\\
'''Mom:''' That is sick. I don't wanna hear about it.\\
'''Dad:''' Hold on, baby, I'd like to hear a few details. ''Ten'' of 'em, huh? That's my boy!
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* Happens in ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' with Jeremy sneaking home after his curfew and thinking he's got away with it, but his parents are laying inside his bedroom door in a sleeping bag. He faints.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Bob returns home, eats a slice of cake, and discovers Helen waiting up for him. Cue kung-fu pose with cake in hand.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/HouseParty'', Kid has returned from the eponymous party, sneaking into the house through the window. He's just taken off his pants and is crawling into bed. Cue the voice of his father in the doorway.
-->'''Father:''' I wouldn't do that just yet. ''[belt snap]'' 'Cause your ass is mine.
:: This is followed by an absolutely hilarious conversation during the credits as Kid's father monologues punctuated by cracks of the belt and Kid's cries of pain.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington From the Highlands]]'' reverses the usual parent-child version of this trope. At the end of the story, Anton sneaks back into his cabin to find his teenage daughter waiting up for him.
* Early into ''Literature/TheOutsiders'', 14-year old Ponyboy accidentally falls asleep with a friend and stays up past his curfew (which is 12 AM). When he arrives home at 3 AM his PromotedToParent brothers give him a scolding.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* On the show ''Series/TeenWolf'' Scott came home, closed the window, turned on the lights and BAM! There was Derek, sitting in a chair expectantly. Stiles went to Scott's house, went to his room, closed the door, turned on the lights and saw Scott sitting in a chair.
* In ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', in the episode "The Bizarro Jerry", Kramer returns home to Jerry's apartment after a day at "work", when he turns on the light and finds Jerry sitting in the dark. Jerry is sitting at the table and they argue about Kramer being late.
* ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'': TheStinger for "George Goes to Disneyland" has George coming home late and being greeted by Max, who reminds him that he called into work sick with a tummy ache. He then turns on the light to reveal George covered in Disneyland merchandise, and he yells "I knew it! You went to Disneyland without me!".
* In ''Series/StrangerThings'', when Nancy returns home late from Steve's party, her mother is waiting in the corridor to berate her.
* Played for laughs in ''Series/BlackBooks'', when Manny comes home from an evening out with friends to find Bernard sitting in a chair waiting up for him, with Bernard proceeding to yell at him like a parent who's been waiting for an errant child all night. For context, Manny is a middle-aged man and Bernard is merely his employer/landlord.
-->'''Bernard:''' Maybe all those other little boys who work in bookshops can do whatever they want, but you're under my roof! You'll follow my rules! This isn't Waterstones!
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music]]
* The Music/StephenFoster song "My Wife Is a Most Knowing Woman" has these lines:
-->Not often I go out to dinner\\
And come home a little "so so,"\\
I try to creep up through the hall-way,\\
As still as a mouse, on tip-toe,\\
She's sure to be waiting up for me\\
And then comes a nice little scene...
* Happens in the music video for "Love of My Life" by Music/ErykahBadu: she comes home late (and presumably drunk, given the way the music is "screwed" and the scene is blurry) with her date (actually Li'l Flip), to find her mother waiting on the couch and asking where she's been.
* Country singer Music/ColinRaye has a song called "That's My Story" in which he insists that he fell asleep in the back yard[[note]]He was actually up all night playing cards with his friends[[/note]] only to find out that his wife put the hammock in storage a week ago.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/MarvelRisingUltimateComics'', Dante tries to sneak home after being out too late, but his parents are there waiting for him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** One episode has Harold walking in with his wife there waiting, unknowingly to him, with wonderful news.
** This is played straight and inverted in an episode where the Professor begins dating a disguised Sedusa. The first time it's used, she scolds the girls for being out at night despite them being superheroes. Later on, the roles get reversed when the girls sit in the living room waiting for her to come home after a crime-spree.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', with Granddad and another one of his insane girlfriends.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' had an amusing example: Patrick came home from a party to a waiting [=SpongeBob=].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Brother from the Same Planet", Bart comes home from spending time with his "bigger brother" Tom. He opens the door to find Homer sitting on the stairs in the shadows. Homer confronts him about where he was.
-->"You've been out gallivanting around with that floozy of a bigger brother of yours, haven't you? ''Haven't you?!''
* A recurring sketch on BlackComedy ''WesternAnimation/MonkeyDust'': A sad looking man arrived home late at night to find his wife waiting up for him. He explains his lateness with an elaborate, detailed and dubious story. Skeptical wife asks him what he's really been doing. Man confesses to something disturbingly degrading. Funnier than it sounds.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "All About Steve" has a [[RuleOfThree three-fer]]. Stan comes home and walks into the living room, where Steve confronts him over having a black man else pose as him at a CIA softball game because he's ashamed that his son is a weak nerd. Then he enters the kitchen, where Francine chews him out about the same. Finally, he goes to the bathroom and is greeted by a bruised-up Roger, who tells him [[ItMakesSenseInContext "I got beat up by a taco"]].
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' attempts to pull this [[spoiler:on Hollyhock]] in Season 4, sitting in the dark for ''five hours'' to invoke it. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for him, he realizes only after trying to turn the light on that the bulb had burned out, prompting him to run out of the room to replace it, and ''then'' pull the trope off]].
[[/folder]]
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