diff --git a/lib/CoreBot.js b/lib/CoreBot.js
index fe61062ba..66cf03274 100755
--- a/lib/CoreBot.js
+++ b/lib/CoreBot.js
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ function Botkit(configuration) {
                 } else {
                     // handle might be a mapping of keyword to callback.
                     // lets see if the message matches any of the keywords
-                    var patterns = this.handler;
+                    var match, patterns = this.handler;
                     for (var p = 0; p < patterns.length; p++) {
                         if (patterns[p].pattern && botkit.hears_test([patterns[p].pattern], message)) {
                             patterns[p].callback(message, this);
@@ -706,8 +706,7 @@ function Botkit(configuration) {
                     test = tests[t];
                 }
 
-                var match = message.text.match(test);
-                if (message.text.match(test)) {
+                if (match = message.text.match(test)) {
                     message.match = match;
                     return true;
                 }
@@ -748,7 +747,7 @@ function Botkit(configuration) {
         for (var e = 0; e < events.length; e++) {
             (function(keywords, test_function) {
                 botkit.on(events[e], function(bot, message) {
-                    if (test_function(keywords, message)) {
+                    if (test_function && test_function(keywords, message)) {
                         botkit.debug('I HEARD', keywords);
                         cb.apply(this, [bot, message]);
                         return false;