diff --git a/eval_kernel/eval_kernel.py b/eval_kernel/eval_kernel.py
index 8eb114ee..73078025 100644
--- a/eval_kernel/eval_kernel.py
+++ b/eval_kernel/eval_kernel.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ def do_function_direct(self, function_name, arg):
         """
         Call a function in the kernel language with args (as a single item).
         """
+        python_magic = self.line_magics['python']
         return python_magic.eval("%s(%s)" % (function_name, arg))
 
     def get_completions(self, info):