Index: Lib/pydoc.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/pydoc.py	(revision 80871)
+++ Lib/pydoc.py	(working copy)
@@ -1320,13 +1320,17 @@
         return plainpager
     if not sys.stdin.isatty() or not sys.stdout.isatty():
         return plainpager
-    if 'PAGER' in os.environ:
+    if 'PAGER' in os.environ or 'MANPAGER' in os.environ:
+        try:
+            use_pager = os.environ['MANPAGER']
+        except KeyError:
+            use_pager = os.environ['PAGER']
         if sys.platform == 'win32': # pipes completely broken in Windows
-            return lambda text: tempfilepager(plain(text), os.environ['PAGER'])
+            return lambda text: tempfilepager(plain(text), use_pager)
         elif os.environ.get('TERM') in ('dumb', 'emacs'):
-            return lambda text: pipepager(plain(text), os.environ['PAGER'])
+            return lambda text: pipepager(plain(text), use_pager)
         else:
-            return lambda text: pipepager(text, os.environ['PAGER'])
+            return lambda text: pipepager(text, use_pager)
     if os.environ.get('TERM') in ('dumb', 'emacs'):
         return plainpager
     if sys.platform == 'win32' or sys.platform.startswith('os2'):