“Nothing good (ever) happens after midnight” is what a parent often cautions a child; children who go to sleep and who don’t go out into the streets do not get into trouble. The hour of the caution varies—sometimes it is 10 p.m. and sometimes 2 a.m. “Nothing good happens after dark” was cited in print in 1917. “Nothing good ever happens after midnight” was cited in 1945, “nothing good happens after 10 o’clock” was cited in 1982, and “nothing good happens after 11 p.m.” was cited in 1998.”
The television situation comedy How I Met Your Mother had a New York City-based episode in 2006 titled “Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M.”
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
24 November 1917, Binghamton (NY) Press, “Rotarians Hear Play That Under-privileged Children May Not Be Neglected During War,” pg. 8, col. 2:
Binghamton Rotarians heard a powerful plea yesterday afternoon that the city shall not neglect its responsibilities toward underprivileged children, the boys and girls in homes of limited incomes: the children who must find their playgrounds in the streets where “nothing good happens after dark.”
14 March 1945, Mason City (IA) Globe-Gazette, pg. 14, col. 3:
The Midnight Oil
Boone News-Republican: Since Byrnes put on a midnight curfew we’ve been trying to decide whether he belongs to the school which thinks nothing good ever happens after midnight, or the opposite side which says anything can be done before midnight that can be done after.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
9 March 1947, Buffalo (NY) Courier-Express, “Crime in Dark of Night Carries Added Penalty,” pg. B-8, col. 1:
The old adage that “nothing good happens after midnight” is recognized by the law, which goes it one better by increasing the penalties for crimes committed after dark.
29 August 1951, Racine (WI) Journal-Times, pg. 20, col. 5:
Nothing good happens after midnight, and there is plenty of time before that to have fun.
—AN INKSTER
9 October 1958, State-Times (Baton Rouge, LA), pg. 8A, col. 2:
“My parents taught me that nothing good ever happens after midnight,” the Air Force officer continued, “and I still believe that.”
Google News Archive
19 November 1982, Spartanburg (SC)
, “Greer Man Gets 14-Year Sentence In Shooting Death” by Debra Gosnell, pg. B1, col. 5:
“This whole thing is a sad, sad situation affecting more than two families,” Judge McGowan told them. “It illustrates the saying that nothing good happens after 10 o’clock “
23 November 1983, Seattle (WA) Times, Parkway Plaza advertising supplement, pg. 8, col. 1 ad:
“My daddy always said nothing good happens after midnight. Daddy was wrong!”
(Drug Emporium—ed.)
Google Books
Too Young to Die
By Gordon R. McLean
Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers
1998
Pg. 140:
I’ve been around the streets long enough to know nothing good happens after midnight; the late calls are always word of tragedy.
Google Books
Lessons Learned the Hard Way:
A Personal Report
By Newt Gingrich
New York, NY: HarperCollins
1998
Pg. 36:
There is an old parental saying that nothing good happens after 11 P.M.
Google News Archive
31 August 2005, Lawrence (KS) Journal-World, “After midnight” (editorial), pg. 6B, col. 1:
For years, probably centuries, mothers and grandmothers have been telling beloved family members, “Nothing good happens after midnight.”
Wikipedia: Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M.
“Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M.” is the 18th episode in the first season of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired on April 10, 2006.
Plot
Future Ted tells his children of a saying his mother used and which he agrees with: “Nothing good happens after 2 a.m.” He then picks up his narrative from where the previous episode left off, having just returned home from a karaoke club and receiving a call from Robin.
OCLC WorldCat record
Nothing good happens after midnight : the autobiography of a family.
Author: Pat And Jack Stewart
Publisher: [S.l.] : Lulu Com, 2013
Edition/Format: Book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Nothing good happens after 2 aḿ: personal messages in a self-designed text-based alcohol intervention
Author: Karen A Renner Affiliation: Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); Ross McCormick; Natalie Walker
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, v8 Suppl 1 (2013 Sep 4): p57
Database: Biomed Central
AM New York
‘How I Met Your Mother’s most NYC moments
By CAROLINE LINTON March 30, 2014
(...)
Nothing good happens after 2 am
Sure, this looks romantic. But “How I Met Your Mother” taught us an important lesson way back in season one: Nothing good happens after 2 am. In the episode with that title, Robin drunkenly calls (kids, back in 2006, before there was Tinder, single people made their drunken mistakes via phone) Ted to come over at 2 am. He says yes, despite his mother’s warning to just go to bed at 2 am. And, thus he teaches us an important lesson: NYC might seem like an exciting place where anything can happen at any time at night, but really, nothing good happens after 2 am.