diff --git a/src/testdir/test_channel.py b/src/testdir/test_channel.py
index ec231e8c..66fd48f 100644
--- a/src/testdir/test_channel.py
+++ b/src/testdir/test_channel.py
@@ -192,3 +192,8 @@
 
     # Main thread terminates, but the server continues running
     # until server.shutdown() is called.
+    try:
+        while server_thread.isAlive(): 
+            server_thread.join(1)
+    except (KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit):
+        server.shutdown()