diff -r e8d89503f061 Lib/idlelib/CallTips.py
--- a/Lib/idlelib/CallTips.py	Sat May 26 20:44:45 2012 -0400
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/CallTips.py	Sun May 27 14:28:11 2012 -0500
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
             namespace.update(__main__.__dict__)
             try:
                 return eval(name, namespace)
-            except (NameError, AttributeError):
+            except (NameError, AttributeError, SyntaxError):
                 return None
 
 def _find_constructor(class_ob):
@@ -125,9 +125,10 @@
         return None
 
 def get_argspec(ob):
-    """Get a string describing the arguments for the given object."""
+    """Get a string describing the arguments for the given object,
+       only if it is callable."""
     argspec = ""
-    if ob is not None:
+    if ob is not None and hasattr(ob, '__call__'):
         if isinstance(ob, type):
             fob = _find_constructor(ob)
             if fob is None: