diff --git a/Python/bltinmodule.c b/Python/bltinmodule.c
--- a/Python/bltinmodule.c
+++ b/Python/bltinmodule.c
@@ -1284,13 +1284,18 @@
 static PyObject *
 min_max(PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds, int op)
 {
-    PyObject *v, *it, *item, *val, *maxitem, *maxval, *keyfunc=NULL;
+    PyObject *v=NULL, *it, *item, *val, *maxitem, *maxval, *keyfunc=NULL;
     const char *name = op == Py_LT ? "min" : "max";
 
     if (PyTuple_Size(args) > 1)
         v = args;
-    else if (!PyArg_UnpackTuple(args, (char *)name, 1, 1, &v))
+    else if (!PyArg_UnpackTuple(args, (char *)name, 0, 1, &v))
         return NULL;
+    else if (v == NULL) {
+        PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError,
+            "%s() requires at least a positional argument", name);
+        return NULL;
+    }
 
     if (kwds != NULL && PyDict_Check(kwds) && PyDict_Size(kwds)) {
         keyfunc = PyDict_GetItemString(kwds, "key");