diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index ca5b7ab7b025..5fb5c3b590f6 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ install:
     pip install --upgrade setuptools
   # Install only from travis wheelhouse
   - if [ -z "$PRE" ]; then
-        wheelhouse_pip_install python-dateutil $NUMPY $PANDAS pyparsing pillow sphinx!=1.3.0;
+        wheelhouse_pip_install python-dateutil $NUMPY $PANDAS pyparsing pillow sphinx!=1.3.0 $MOCK;
     else
         pip install $PRE python-dateutil $NUMPY pyparsing pillow sphinx!=1.3.0;
     fi
@@ -70,13 +70,6 @@ install:
   - pip install $PRE pep8 cycler
   - 'pip install https://github.com/tacaswell/nose/zipball/mnt_py36_compat#egg=nose'
 
-  # Install mock on python 2. Python 2.6 requires mock 1.0.1
-  # Since later versions have dropped support
-  - |
-    if [[ -n "$MOCK"  ]]; then
-      echo $MOCK
-      pip install $MOCK
-    fi;
   # We manually install humor sans using the package from Ubuntu 14.10. Unfortunatly humor sans is not
   # availible in the Ubuntu version used by Travis but we can manually install the deb from a later
   # version since is it basically just a .ttf file
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index b76d94b87d8c..1e88933c23bb 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -1487,7 +1487,14 @@ def tk_window_focus():
     ]
 
 
-def verify_test_dependencies():
+def _init_tests():
+    try:
+        import faulthandler
+    except ImportError:
+        pass
+    else:
+        faulthandler.enable()
+
     if not os.path.isdir(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'tests')):
         raise ImportError("matplotlib test data is not installed")
 
@@ -1502,37 +1509,36 @@ def verify_test_dependencies():
         raise
 
 
+def _get_extra_test_plugins():
+    from .testing.noseclasses import KnownFailure
+    from nose.plugins import attrib
+
+    return [KnownFailure, attrib.Plugin]
+
+
 def test(verbosity=1):
     """run the matplotlib test suite"""
-    verify_test_dependencies()
-    try:
-        import faulthandler
-    except ImportError:
-        pass
-    else:
-        faulthandler.enable()
+    _init_tests()
 
     old_backend = rcParams['backend']
     try:
         use('agg')
         import nose
         import nose.plugins.builtin
-        from .testing.noseclasses import KnownFailure
         from nose.plugins.manager import PluginManager
         from nose.plugins import multiprocess
 
         # store the old values before overriding
-        plugins = []
-        plugins.append(KnownFailure())
+        plugins = _get_extra_test_plugins()
         plugins.extend([plugin() for plugin in nose.plugins.builtin.plugins])
 
-        manager = PluginManager(plugins=plugins)
+        manager = PluginManager(plugins=[x() for x in plugins])
         config = nose.config.Config(verbosity=verbosity, plugins=manager)
 
         # Nose doesn't automatically instantiate all of the plugins in the
         # child processes, so we have to provide the multiprocess plugin with
         # a list.
-        multiprocess._instantiate_plugins = [KnownFailure]
+        multiprocess._instantiate_plugins = plugins
 
         success = nose.run(
             defaultTest=default_test_modules,
diff --git a/tests.py b/tests.py
index 70dfeb37974c..529dbe70d112 100755
--- a/tests.py
+++ b/tests.py
@@ -17,30 +17,19 @@
 matplotlib.use('agg')
 
 import nose
-from nose.plugins import attrib
-from matplotlib.testing.noseclasses import KnownFailure
 from matplotlib import default_test_modules
 
-plugins = [KnownFailure, attrib.Plugin]
-
-# Nose doesn't automatically instantiate all of the plugins in the
-# child processes, so we have to provide the multiprocess plugin with
-# a list.
-from nose.plugins import multiprocess
-multiprocess._instantiate_plugins = plugins
-
 
 def run(extra_args):
-    try:
-        import faulthandler
-    except ImportError:
-        pass
-    else:
-        faulthandler.enable()
+    from nose.plugins import multiprocess
+
+    matplotlib._init_tests()
 
-    if not os.path.isdir(
-            os.path.join(os.path.dirname(matplotlib.__file__), 'tests')):
-        raise ImportError("matplotlib test data is not installed")
+    # Nose doesn't automatically instantiate all of the plugins in the
+    # child processes, so we have to provide the multiprocess plugin with
+    # a list.
+    plugins = matplotlib._get_extra_test_plugins()
+    multiprocess._instantiate_plugins = plugins
 
     nose.main(addplugins=[x() for x in plugins],
               defaultTest=default_test_modules,