diff --git a/Lib/distutils/dist.py b/Lib/distutils/dist.py
index f49afcc..eb7d01c 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/dist.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/dist.py
@@ -545,7 +545,7 @@
             for (help_option, short, desc, func) in cmd_class.help_options:
                 if hasattr(opts, parser.get_attr_name(help_option)):
                     help_option_found=1
-                    if callable(func):
+                    if hasattr(func, '__call__'):
                         func()
                     else:
                         raise DistutilsClassError(