diff --git a/builtin/checkout.c b/builtin/checkout.c
index 88ab9480da..4d6bb0c5d0 100644
--- a/builtin/checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/checkout.c
@@ -387,8 +387,8 @@ static void show_local_changes(struct object *head,
 static void describe_detached_head(const char *msg, struct commit *commit)
 {
 	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
-	parse_commit(commit);
-	pp_commit_easy(CMIT_FMT_ONELINE, commit, &sb);
+	if (!parse_commit(commit))
+		pp_commit_easy(CMIT_FMT_ONELINE, commit, &sb);
 	fprintf(stderr, "%s %s... %s\n", msg,
 		find_unique_abbrev(commit->object.sha1, DEFAULT_ABBREV), sb.buf);
 	strbuf_release(&sb);
@@ -684,12 +684,12 @@ static int add_pending_uninteresting_ref(const char *refname,
 
 static void describe_one_orphan(struct strbuf *sb, struct commit *commit)
 {
-	parse_commit(commit);
 	strbuf_addstr(sb, "  ");
 	strbuf_addstr(sb,
 		find_unique_abbrev(commit->object.sha1, DEFAULT_ABBREV));
 	strbuf_addch(sb, ' ');
-	pp_commit_easy(CMIT_FMT_ONELINE, commit, sb);
+	if (!parse_commit(commit))
+		pp_commit_easy(CMIT_FMT_ONELINE, commit, sb);
 	strbuf_addch(sb, '\n');
 }