diff --git a/src/pl/tcl/expected/pltcl_call.out b/src/pl/tcl/expected/pltcl_call.out
index e4498375ec..9307236944 100644
--- a/src/pl/tcl/expected/pltcl_call.out
+++ b/src/pl/tcl/expected/pltcl_call.out
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ END
 $$;
 NOTICE:  a: 10
 NOTICE:  _a: 10, _b: 20
+-- syntax errors
+CREATE PROCEDURE test_proc10(INOUT a text)
+LANGUAGE pltcl
+AS $$
+return [list a {$a + $a}])
+$$;
+CALL test_proc10('abc');
+ERROR:  could not parse function return value: list element in braces followed by ")" instead of space
 DROP PROCEDURE test_proc1;
 DROP PROCEDURE test_proc2;
 DROP PROCEDURE test_proc3;
diff --git a/src/pl/tcl/pltcl.c b/src/pl/tcl/pltcl.c
index 18d14a2b98..104175aa8c 100644
--- a/src/pl/tcl/pltcl.c
+++ b/src/pl/tcl/pltcl.c
@@ -1026,7 +1026,10 @@ pltcl_func_handler(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS, pltcl_call_state *call_state,
 		/* Convert function result to tuple */
 		resultObj = Tcl_GetObjResult(interp);
 		if (Tcl_ListObjGetElements(interp, resultObj, &resultObjc, &resultObjv) == TCL_ERROR)
-			throw_tcl_error(interp, prodesc->user_proname);
+			ereport(ERROR,
+					(errcode(ERRCODE_EXTERNAL_ROUTINE_EXCEPTION),
+					 errmsg("could not parse function return value: %s",
+							utf_u2e(Tcl_GetStringResult(interp)))));
 
 		tup = pltcl_build_tuple_result(interp, resultObjv, resultObjc,
 									   call_state);
@@ -1355,6 +1358,10 @@ pltcl_event_trigger_handler(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS, pltcl_call_state *call_state,
 
 /**********************************************************************
  * throw_tcl_error	- ereport an error returned from the Tcl interpreter
+ *
+ * Caution: use this only to report errors returned by Tcl_EvalObjEx() or
+ * other variants of Tcl_Eval().  Other functions may not fill "errorInfo",
+ * so it could be unset or even contain details from some previous error.
  **********************************************************************/
 static void
 throw_tcl_error(Tcl_Interp *interp, const char *proname)
diff --git a/src/pl/tcl/sql/pltcl_call.sql b/src/pl/tcl/sql/pltcl_call.sql
index 37efbdefc2..eba5793f94 100644
--- a/src/pl/tcl/sql/pltcl_call.sql
+++ b/src/pl/tcl/sql/pltcl_call.sql
@@ -71,6 +71,17 @@ END
 $$;
 
 
+-- syntax errors
+
+CREATE PROCEDURE test_proc10(INOUT a text)
+LANGUAGE pltcl
+AS $$
+return [list a {$a + $a}])
+$$;
+
+CALL test_proc10('abc');
+
+
 DROP PROCEDURE test_proc1;
 DROP PROCEDURE test_proc2;
 DROP PROCEDURE test_proc3;