diff -r 42bfb4b48101 Lib/distutils/tests/support.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/support.py	Thu Nov 12 13:28:07 2015 +0200
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/support.py	Thu Nov 12 14:21:55 2015 +0200
@@ -10,6 +10,15 @@ from copy import deepcopy
 from distutils import log
 from distutils.log import DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL
 from distutils.core import Distribution
+import contextlib
+
+
+@contextlib.contextmanager
+def restore_log_level():
+    threshold = log.set_threshold(log.WARN)
+    log.set_threshold(threshold)
+    yield threshold
+    log.set_threshold(threshold)
 
 
 class LoggingSilencer(object):
diff -r 42bfb4b48101 Lib/distutils/tests/test_core.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_core.py	Thu Nov 12 13:28:07 2015 +0200
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_core.py	Thu Nov 12 14:21:55 2015 +0200
@@ -116,14 +116,14 @@ class CoreTestCase(support.EnvironGuard,
     def test_debug_mode(self):
         # this covers the code called when DEBUG is set
         sys.argv = ['setup.py', '--name']
-        with captured_stdout() as stdout:
+        with captured_stdout() as stdout, support.restore_log_level():
             distutils.core.setup(name='bar')
         stdout.seek(0)
         self.assertEqual(stdout.read(), 'bar\n')
 
         distutils.core.DEBUG = True
         try:
-            with captured_stdout() as stdout:
+            with captured_stdout() as stdout, support.restore_log_level():
                 distutils.core.setup(name='bar')
         finally:
             distutils.core.DEBUG = False
diff -r 42bfb4b48101 Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py	Thu Nov 12 13:28:07 2015 +0200
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_dist.py	Thu Nov 12 14:21:55 2015 +0200
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ class MetadataTestCase(support.TempdirMa
         sys.argv = []
         dist.help = 1
         dist.script_name = 'setup.py'
-        with captured_stdout() as s:
+        with captured_stdout() as s, support.restore_log_level():
             dist.parse_command_line()
 
         output = [line for line in s.getvalue().split('\n')
diff -r 42bfb4b48101 Lib/test/test_shutil.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py	Thu Nov 12 13:28:07 2015 +0200
+++ b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py	Thu Nov 12 14:21:55 2015 +0200
@@ -1037,7 +1037,7 @@ class TestShutil(unittest.TestCase):
         # now create another tarball using `tar`
         tarball2 = os.path.join(root_dir, 'archive2.tar')
         tar_cmd = ['tar', '-cf', 'archive2.tar', base_dir]
-        with support.change_cwd(root_dir), captured_stdout():
+        with support.change_cwd(root_dir):
             spawn(tar_cmd)
 
         self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile(tarball2))