diff --git a/bench/bench.py b/bench/bench.py
index 4e72444e7..31cc7ac13 100644
--- a/bench/bench.py
+++ b/bench/bench.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     import pytest  # NOQA
     import pstats
 
-    script = sys.argv[1:] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else "empty.py"
+    script = sys.argv[1:] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else ["empty.py"]
     stats = cProfile.run("pytest.cmdline.main(%r)" % script, "prof")
     p = pstats.Stats("prof")
     p.strip_dirs()