diff --git a/Lib/pydoc.py b/Lib/pydoc.py
index ecbdb44..d08d1ac 100755
--- a/Lib/pydoc.py
+++ b/Lib/pydoc.py
@@ -1454,13 +1454,14 @@
         else: break
     if module:
         object = module
-        for part in parts[n:]:
-            try: object = getattr(object, part)
-            except AttributeError: return None
-        return object
     else:
-        if hasattr(__builtin__, path):
-            return getattr(__builtin__, path)
+        object = __builtin__
+    for part in parts[n:]:
+        try:
+            object = getattr(object, part)
+        except AttributeError:
+            return None
+    return object
 
 # --------------------------------------- interactive interpreter interface