diff -r 4a27b5ab2710 Lib/idlelib/CallTips.py
--- a/Lib/idlelib/CallTips.py	Wed Dec 14 18:40:35 2011 +0100
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/CallTips.py	Wed Dec 21 12:33:41 2011 -0600
@@ -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):
@@ -149,6 +149,9 @@
             if argspec:
                 argspec += "\n"
             argspec += doc[:pos]
+        call = getattr(ob, "__call__", "")
+        if not call:
+            argspec = 'not callable\n' + argspec
     return argspec
 
 #################################################