diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/help.py b/Lib/fontTools/help.py
index 2a238de3d..4331a26dd 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/help.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/help.py
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ def main():
             continue
         try:
             description = imports.main.__doc__
-            if description:
+            # Cython modules seem to return "main()" as the docstring
+            if description and description != "main()":
                 pkg = pkg.replace("fontTools.", "").replace(".__main__", "")
                 # show the docstring's first line only
                 descriptions[pkg] = description.splitlines()[0]