diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pydoc/test_pydoc.py b/Lib/test/test_pydoc/test_pydoc.py
index 1793ef148703b1..65ad7649b9e2db 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_pydoc/test_pydoc.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pydoc/test_pydoc.py
@@ -1334,47 +1334,6 @@ def test_url_search_package_error(self):
             finally:
                 sys.path[:] = saved_paths
 
-    @unittest.skip('causes undesirable side-effects (#20128)')
-    def test_modules(self):
-        # See Helper.listmodules().
-        num_header_lines = 2
-        num_module_lines_min = 5  # Playing it safe.
-        num_footer_lines = 3
-        expected = num_header_lines + num_module_lines_min + num_footer_lines
-
-        output = StringIO()
-        helper = pydoc.Helper(output=output)
-        helper('modules')
-        result = output.getvalue().strip()
-        num_lines = len(result.splitlines())
-
-        self.assertGreaterEqual(num_lines, expected)
-
-    @unittest.skip('causes undesirable side-effects (#20128)')
-    def test_modules_search(self):
-        # See Helper.listmodules().
-        expected = 'pydoc - '
-
-        output = StringIO()
-        helper = pydoc.Helper(output=output)
-        with captured_stdout() as help_io:
-            helper('modules pydoc')
-        result = help_io.getvalue()
-
-        self.assertIn(expected, result)
-
-    @unittest.skip('some buildbots are not cooperating (#20128)')
-    def test_modules_search_builtin(self):
-        expected = 'gc - '
-
-        output = StringIO()
-        helper = pydoc.Helper(output=output)
-        with captured_stdout() as help_io:
-            helper('modules garbage')
-        result = help_io.getvalue()
-
-        self.assertStartsWith(result, expected)
-
     def test_importfile(self):
         try:
             loaded_pydoc = pydoc.importfile(pydoc.__file__)