diff --git a/builtin-blame.c b/builtin-blame.c
index 7a58ee303f..02bda5e196 100644
--- a/builtin-blame.c
+++ b/builtin-blame.c
@@ -1780,6 +1780,9 @@ int cmd_blame(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			argv[unk++] = arg;
 	}
 
+	if (!incremental)
+		setup_pager();
+
 	if (!blame_move_score)
 		blame_move_score = BLAME_DEFAULT_MOVE_SCORE;
 	if (!blame_copy_score)
diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index 530e99fe64..e9febc389a 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ static void handle_internal_command(int argc, const char **argv, char **envp)
 		{ "annotate", cmd_annotate, USE_PAGER },
 		{ "apply", cmd_apply },
 		{ "archive", cmd_archive },
-		{ "blame", cmd_blame, RUN_SETUP | USE_PAGER },
+		{ "blame", cmd_blame, RUN_SETUP },
 		{ "branch", cmd_branch, RUN_SETUP },
 		{ "cat-file", cmd_cat_file, RUN_SETUP },
 		{ "checkout-index", cmd_checkout_index, RUN_SETUP },