diff --git a/holoviews/plotting/mpl/renderer.py b/holoviews/plotting/mpl/renderer.py
index eb309c8792..9f69bfa2a8 100644
--- a/holoviews/plotting/mpl/renderer.py
+++ b/holoviews/plotting/mpl/renderer.py
@@ -119,18 +119,23 @@ def show(self, obj):
         GUI backend.
         """
         if self.interactive:
+            if isinstance(obj, list):
+                return [self.get_plot(o) for o in obj]
             return self.get_plot(obj)
 
         from .plot import MPLPlot
         MPLPlot._close_figures = False
         try:
-            plot = self.get_plot(obj)
-            plt.show(plot.state)
+            plots = []
+            objects = obj if isinstance(obj, list) else [obj]
+            for o in obj:
+                plots.append(self.get_plot(o))
+            plt.show()
         except:
             MPLPlot._close_figures = True
             raise
         MPLPlot._close_figures = True
-        return plot
+        return plots[0] if len(plots) == 1 else plots
 
 
     @classmethod