"The problem with 10:30pm is that it comes exactly…

“The problem with 10:30pm is that it comes exactly one minute before 2:30am if you’re not careful” is jocular saying that was posted on X/Twitter by Josh Gondelman on May 24, 2020, and this received over 111,000 likes. The saying means that time can jump from an acceptable time to go to sleep to an unacceptable time rather quickly.

Wikipedia: Josh Gondelman
Joshua Lyons Gondelman (born January 15, 1985) is an American author, comedy writer, producer, and stand-up comedian. He was a supervising producer and writer for Desus & Mero on Showtime. He was previously a writer on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

X/Twitter
Josh Gondelman
@joshgondelman
The problem with 10:30pm is that it comes exactly one minute before 2:30am if you’re not careful.
2:44 AM · May 24, 2020

iFunny
MPBaby
5 jun 2020
The problem with 10:30pm is that it comes exactly one minute before 2:30am if you’re not careful.

Reddit—ExplainTheJoke
MelodieSimp69—July 12, 2025
What. (The Josh Gondelman tweet is shown.—ed.)
(...)
COMMENTS
peekitty
If you stay up kind of late, it’s easy to lose track of time and then not check the clock again until it’s VERY late. That’s all this is saying.
Chimkago
I think it’s supposed to be a time flies kind of joke. Like late at night you get sucked into your activities and can lose track of time really easily

X/Twitter
Bob Kostic
@causticbob
The problem with 10:30pm is that it comes exactly one minute before 2:30am if you’re not careful.
6:11 PM · Sep 21, 2025