diff --git a/help.go b/help.go
index a246f63..ecb67c2 100644
--- a/help.go
+++ b/help.go
@@ -180,7 +180,9 @@ func printHelp(out io.Writer, templ string, data interface{}) {
 	t := template.Must(template.New("help").Funcs(funcMap).Parse(templ))
 	err := t.Execute(w, data)
 	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
+		// If the writer is closed, t.Execute will fail, and there's nothing
+		// we can do to recover. We could send this to os.Stderr if we need.
+		return
 	}
 	w.Flush()
 }