diff --git a/src/yetibot/api/jira.clj b/src/yetibot/api/jira.clj
index c6f5ed7c..6b7d6cde 100644
--- a/src/yetibot/api/jira.clj
+++ b/src/yetibot/api/jira.clj
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@
   "Retrieve the list of configured projects for a channel, given its settings"
   [channel-settings]
   (when-let [setting (channel-settings jira-project-setting-key)]
-    (s/split setting #",\s*")))
+    (info "channel-projects" (pr-str setting))
+    (seq (remove s/blank? (s/split setting #",\s*")))))
 
 (defn config [] (:value (get-config jira-schema [:jira])))
 
diff --git a/src/yetibot/commands/jira.clj b/src/yetibot/commands/jira.clj
index c946a697..e4ab83e5 100644
--- a/src/yetibot/commands/jira.clj
+++ b/src/yetibot/commands/jira.clj
@@ -233,11 +233,16 @@
   {:yb/cat #{:issue}}
   [{:keys [settings]}]
   (binding [api/*jira-projects* (channel-projects settings)]
-    (report-if-error
-      #(api/recent)
-      (fn [res]
-        {:result/value (short-jira-list res)
-         :result/data (-> res :body :issues)}))))
+    (info "recent" (pr-str api/*jira-projects*))
+    (if api/*jira-projects*
+      (report-if-error
+        #(api/recent)
+        (fn [res]
+          {:result/value (short-jira-list res)
+           :result/data (-> res :body :issues)}))
+      {:result/error
+       "You don't have any JIRA projects configured for this channel. Use `channel set jira-project PROJECT1,PROJECT2` to configure 1 or more."
+       })))
 
 (defn search-cmd
   "jira search <query> # return up to 15 issues matching <query> across all configured projects"