diff --git a/awscli/clidriver.py b/awscli/clidriver.py
index 5b6e5e8e1d2e..bdde2cf02bf8 100644
--- a/awscli/clidriver.py
+++ b/awscli/clidriver.py
@@ -649,20 +649,17 @@ def invoke(self, service_name, operation_name, parameters, parsed_globals):
         py_operation_name = xform_name(operation_name)
         if client.can_paginate(py_operation_name) and parsed_globals.paginate:
             paginator = client.get_paginator(py_operation_name)
-            pages = paginator.paginate(**parameters)
-            self._display_response(operation_name, pages, True, parsed_globals)
+            response = paginator.paginate(**parameters)
         else:
-            response_data = getattr(client, xform_name(operation_name))(
+            response = getattr(client, xform_name(operation_name))(
                 **parameters)
-            self._display_response(
-                operation_name, response_data, False,
-                parsed_globals)
+        self._display_response(operation_name, response, parsed_globals)
         return 0
 
     def _display_response(self, command_name, response,
-                          is_response_paginated, parsed_globals):
+                          parsed_globals):
         output = parsed_globals.output
         if output is None:
             output = self._session.get_config_variable('output')
         formatter = get_formatter(output, parsed_globals)
-        formatter(command_name, response, is_response_paginated)
+        formatter(command_name, response)
diff --git a/awscli/customizations/emr/emrutils.py b/awscli/customizations/emr/emrutils.py
index 77141ddf3652..bd88e44f376e 100644
--- a/awscli/customizations/emr/emrutils.py
+++ b/awscli/customizations/emr/emrutils.py
@@ -248,5 +248,5 @@ def display_response(session, operation_name, result, parsed_globals):
         cli_operation_caller = CLIOperationCaller(session)
         # Calling a private method. Should be changed after the functionality
         # is moved outside CliOperationCaller.
-        cli_operation_caller._display_response(operation_name, result, False,
-                                               parsed_globals)
+        cli_operation_caller._display_response(
+            operation_name, result, parsed_globals)
diff --git a/awscli/formatter.py b/awscli/formatter.py
index eaa7c5884cd0..61cafb300651 100644
--- a/awscli/formatter.py
+++ b/awscli/formatter.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from botocore.compat import json
 
 from botocore.utils import set_value_from_jmespath
+from botocore.paginate import PageIterator
 
 from awscli.table import MultiTable, Styler, ColorizedStyler
 from awscli import text
@@ -25,6 +26,10 @@
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+def is_response_paginated(response):
+    return isinstance(response, PageIterator)
+
+
 class Formatter(object):
     def __init__(self, args):
         self._args = args
@@ -52,8 +57,7 @@ def _flush_stream(self, stream):
 
 
 class FullyBufferedFormatter(Formatter):
-    def __call__(self, command_name, response,
-                 is_response_paginated=False, stream=None):
+    def __call__(self, command_name, response, stream=None):
         if stream is None:
             # Retrieve stdout on invocation instead of at import time
             # so that if anything wraps stdout we'll pick up those changes
@@ -61,7 +65,7 @@ def __call__(self, command_name, response,
             stream = self._get_default_stream()
         # I think the interfaces between non-paginated
         # and paginated responses can still be cleaned up.
-        if is_response_paginated:
+        if is_response_paginated(response):
             response_data = response.build_full_result()
         else:
             response_data = response
@@ -221,12 +225,11 @@ def _group_scalar_keys(self, current):
 
 class TextFormatter(Formatter):
 
-    def __call__(self, command_name, response,
-                 is_response_paginated=False, stream=None):
+    def __call__(self, command_name, response, stream=None):
         if stream is None:
             stream = self._get_default_stream()
         try:
-            if is_response_paginated:
+            if is_response_paginated(response):
                 result_keys = response.result_keys
                 for page in response:
                     current = {}