diff --git a/benchmarks/utils.py b/benchmarks/utils.py
index 5e0164a76aa0984804806bf926b69757317164d0_YmVuY2htYXJrcy91dGlscy5weQ==..2bd442f065c184a0d1393c500114beffe2b023ff_YmVuY2htYXJrcy91dGlscy5weQ== 100644
--- a/benchmarks/utils.py
+++ b/benchmarks/utils.py
@@ -499,6 +499,10 @@
             # command does not exist for this version of perf.py
             # return NaN which is a "n/a" status for asv
             return None
+        except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc:
+            msg = "calling perf command failed [%d]: %s %s" % (exc.returncode, command, args)
+            print(msg, file=sys.stderr)
+            print(exc.output, file=sys.stderr)
 
     def perfext(self, command, *args, **kwargs):
         """Use contrib/perf.py extension from mercurial to get a benchmark result"""