History Main / MidnightSnack

* In ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'', Francine, stressed over her best friend and roommate Katchoo's secretive behaviour, fixes a so-called "milkshake" as a midnight snack. It is, in fact, an enormous tub of ice cream with lots of milk and chocolate syrup poured in.

* In ''StrangersInParadise'', Francine, stressed over her best friend and roommate Katchoo's secretive behaviour, fixes a so-called "milkshake" as a midnight snack. It is, in fact, an enormous tub of ice cream with lots of milk and chocolate syrup poured in.

* DonaldDuck was once found of these while sleepwalking and every morning he believed the food was eaten by his nephews and wouldn't listen to them. After a failed attempt to wake him up during a raid, they sought for medical help. Donald followed them to the doctor and told them his side of the facts. The doctor then suggested him to pull a prank to make them unable to deny ''their'' fridge-raiding. Pour on the food a drug that made the users' faces green. When it was Donald and not the nephews who had a green face, Donald finally realized he was the one eating the food.

* In ''RichieRich'', Mr. Rich sneaks into the kitchen at night, picks the locks his wife has put on the fridge, opens the door and reaches for the food, only to find that she's installed a forcefield on the inside, preventing him from touching anything until breakfast time. He spends the remainder of the night sitting in front of the open fridge, staring mournfully at the food.
* In the ArchieComics feature ''Li'l Jinx,'' Charley goes on a strict diet, supervised by his friend Greg, but each weigh-in reveals he hasn't lost any weight. Charley invites Greg to spend an entire day watching him, to prove that he isn't cheating. Greg observes that Charley is indeed following the diet religiously. However, that night, staying over at his friend's, he awakes to find Charley raiding the fridge and eating in his sleep.

* For James in ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'' the 2AM raiding the fridge resulted in an invitation to [[ChessWithDeath poker with Horrors]].

* In the second season of ''SailorMoon'', Luna catches Usagi sitting in front of the open fridge in the middle of the night. She has half the contents on the floor around her and is binge eating straight from the containers. The entire scene was due to her break up with Mamoru.

* ''MagicTheGathering'' card Volrath's Motion Sensor: http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=9753

* Jimmy's dad does this in the ''JimmyNeutron, Boy Genius'' movie. Right before all the adults in the town are abducted.

* ''{{Seinfeld}}'': At a vacation house in the Hamptons, Jerry's girlfriend goes to sneak some leftover lobster, though it goes against her religion. Fortunately for her, Kramer anticipated it, and is waiting there to intervene. Unfortunately for her, the next morning George laces her eggs with lobster out of vengeance for her telling his girlfriend about his "shrinkage".

* [[{{Blondie}} Dagwood]] is probably the TropeCodifier.
* ''{{Garfield}}'' does this often.

* ''OctopusPie'': [[http://www.octopuspie.com/2011-01-12/429-so-embarrassed/ This strip]] has Eve do it, and when a buck naked Marek shows up, be concerned about ''her'' being embarrassed if he sees her.

* [[TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]], of course. One night, he ate 64 slices of American cheese (and went blind). Another time, he ate a piece of doughnut...which was promised to him by Satan in exchange for his soul.
* [[SpongebobSquarepants In the "Suds" episode of Spongebob Squarepants]] Spongebob is unable to sleep, so he decides to treat himself with a [[FlintstoneTheming seanut butter]] and jelly sandwich, allegedly the best hypnotic in the sea. He takes one bite, then falls like a brick.

* AmySedaris advises alcoholics and lonely ice cream eaters to "rotate your stores," because cashiers notice when the same person comes in at one a.m. every night and makes the same telltale purchase.

[[quoteright:254:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Midnight_Snack_2_4771.jpg]]

Also known as the Midnight Fridge Raid--which may induce FridgeLogic.

A common occurrence in American sitcoms and other comedy shows is to have some character get up in the middle of the night in order to have a snack. This may be due to the character being a BigEater, or being on a diet and attempting to cheat on it without anyone noticing.

Sometimes two or more people will have the same idea. May either be a plot point or a RunningGag.

----
!!Examples:

[[AC:{{Advertising}}]]
* The UK adverts for R. White's Lemonade in the [=70s=] were about a "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqBa7eay6Fo Secret Lemonade Drinker]]". Inspired MemeticMutation.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* In ''{{Kanon}}'', Makota does this once. [[{{Hilarity Ensues}} Yuuichi sneaks up behind her and drops some konnyaku down the back of her pajamas.]]
* In the second season of ''SailorMoon'', Luna catches Usagi sitting in front of the open fridge in the middle of the night. She has half the contents on the floor around her and is binge eating straight from the containers. The entire scene was due to her break up with Mamoru.

[[AC:CardGames]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Jimmy's dad does this in the ''JimmyNeutron, Boy Genius'' movie. Right before all the adults in the town are abducted.
* ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}''. Late at night while everyone is dozing off one of the paranormal researchers goes to the kitchen to get something to eat, including a steak and chicken leg from the fridge. He gets [[NightmareFuel/{{Film}} a lot more than he was expecting]].

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* It's mentioned in the ''{{Discworld}}'' books (specifically, ''Mort'') that it is a universal law that any pantry raided furtively in the middle of the night will inevitably contain half a jar of mayonnaise and an elderly tomato, regardless of its normal daytime contents.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* TheGoldenGirls used to do this all the time, favoring cheesecake.
* ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}'': Karadoc does this pretty much every night, the rest of the cast occasionally. In one episode, he's forbidden from entering the kitchen by Lady Seli, as they need the food for the upcoming diplomatic meeting and feast. He retaliates by sneaking in early and emptying the cupboards.

[[AC:{{Music}}]]
* The subject of one of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Nordine Ken Nordine's]] Word Jazz recordings called [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k88msPKWkKY "Hunger is From."]] A sample:
-->have you ever been hungry in the middle of the night?
-->that happens to me sometimes
-->and then i go raid the icebox
-->for example, the other night i did that
-->we had some leftover welsh rarebit
-->i found that and a couple crackers
-->piece of celery
-->and an olive and i
-->sat down in the middle of the night
-->i was very, very
-->...hungry

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
* [[{{Blondie}} Dagwood]] is probably the TropeCodifier.
* ''{{Garfield}}'' does this often.

[[AC:WebComics]]
* ''OctopusPie'': [[http://www.octopuspie.com/2011-01-12/429-so-embarrassed/ This strip]] has Eve do it, and when a buck naked Marek shows up, be concerned about ''her'' being embarrassed if he sees her.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* A classic ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short is called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Midnight Snack]]".
* [[TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]], of course. One night, he ate 64 slices of American cheese (and went blind). Another time, he ate a piece of doughnut...which was promised to him by Satan in exchange for his soul.

[[AC:Other]]

* A classic ''TomAndJerry'' short is called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Midnight Snack]]".

* ''{{Film/Poltergeist}}''. Late at night while everyone is dozing off one of the paranormal researchers goes to the kitchen to get something to eat, including a steak and chicken leg from the fridge. He gets [[{{HighOctaneNightmareFuel/Film}} a lot more than he was expecting]].

* AmySedaris advises alcoholics and lonely ice cream eaters to "rotate your stores," because cashiers notice when the same person comes in at one a.m. every night and makes the same telltale purchase.

* [[OuranHighSchoolHostClub Honey]] likes to have midnight snacks of [[BigEater ''MULTIPLE ENTIRE CAKES.'']]

* [[OuranHighSchoolHostClub Honey]] likes to have midnight snacks of [[BigEater '''MULTIPLE ENTIRE CAKES.''']]

* It's mentioned in the ''{{Discworld}}'' books that it is a universal law that any pantry raided furtively in the middle of the night will inevitably contain half a jar of mayonnaise and an elderly tomato, regardless of its normal daytime contents.

* In ''[[PGWodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves]]'', the gourmand Tuppy Glossop has been fighting with his vegetarian fiancé Angela. Bertie advises him to pretend not to be hungry at dinner, so Angela will think he is pining over her--and then nip down to the kitchen while everyone's asleep and have some steak-and-kidney pie. Unfortunately, though, what with [[HilarityEnsues one thing and another]] the entire household ends up coming down to the kitchen at midnight. Angela uses the midnight snack as even further evidence of Tuppy's gluttony, and he doesn't even get time to eat it.

* ''{{Kaamelott}}'': Karadoc does this pretty much every night, the rest of the cast occasionally. In one episode, he's forbidden from entering the kitchen by Lady Seli, as they need the food for the upcoming diplomatic meeting and feast. He retaliates by sneaking in early and emptying the cupboards.

* In ''DualParallelTroubleAdventure'' Mitsuki catches Kazuki and Dr. Sanada eating instant noodles at midnight and saying that they just need some of it once in a while. She forces them to eat a full meal she cooks ont he spot.

* In ''{{Kanon}}'', Makota does this in one of the episodes?

* [[TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]], of course. One night he ate 64 slices of American Cheese.

* ''MagicTheGathering'' card Volrath's Motion Sensor: http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=9753

* It's mentioned in the ''{{Discworld}}'' books that it is a universal law that any pantry raided furtively in the middle of the night will inevitably contain half a jar of mayonnaise and an elderly tomato, regardless of it's normal daytime contents.

* ''{{Kaamelott}}'': Caradoc does this pretty much every night, the rest of the cast occasionally. In one episode, he's forbidden from entering the kitchen by Lady Seli, as they need the food for the upcoming diplomatic meeting and feast. He retaliates by sneaking in early and emptying the cupboards.