diff --git a/hy/contrib/hy_repr.hy b/hy/contrib/hy_repr.hy
index c064e7adb..94506a08f 100644
--- a/hy/contrib/hy_repr.hy
+++ b/hy/contrib/hy_repr.hy
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
   [hy.models [HyObject HyExpression HySymbol HyKeyword HyInteger HyFloat HyComplex HyList HyDict HySet HyString HyBytes]])
 
 (defn base-repr [x]
+  (unless (instance? HyObject x)
+    (return (repr x)))
   ; Call (.repr x) using the first class of x that doesn't inherit from
   ; HyObject.
   (.__repr__