diff --git a/pandas/core/format.py b/pandas/core/format.py
index 30baa4345caf2..482932f73e67c 100644
--- a/pandas/core/format.py
+++ b/pandas/core/format.py
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ class DataFrameFormatter(object):
 
     """
 
+    __doc__ = __doc__ if __doc__ else ''
     __doc__ += docstring_to_string
 
     def __init__(self, frame, buf=None, columns=None, col_space=None,
diff --git a/pandas/util/decorators.py b/pandas/util/decorators.py
index 5f535c7780c27..5cd87a1e9c683 100644
--- a/pandas/util/decorators.py
+++ b/pandas/util/decorators.py
@@ -93,7 +93,9 @@ def __init__(self, addendum, join='', indents=0):
         self.join = join
 
     def __call__(self, func):
-        docitems = [func.__doc__ if func.__doc__ else '', self.addendum]
+        func.__doc__ = func.__doc__ if func.__doc__ else ''
+        self.addendum = self.addendum if self.addendum else ''
+        docitems = [func.__doc__, self.addendum]
         func.__doc__ = ''.join(docitems)
         return func