diff --git a/ipykernel/kernelbase.py b/ipykernel/kernelbase.py
index a0a7c98e2..39d6d2661 100644
--- a/ipykernel/kernelbase.py
+++ b/ipykernel/kernelbase.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
     now = datetime.now
 
 from tornado import ioloop
-from tornado.queues import Queue
+from tornado.queues import Queue, QueueEmpty
 import zmq
 from zmq.eventloop.zmqstream import ZMQStream
 
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ async def process_one(self, wait=True):
         else:
             try:
                 t, dispatch, args = self.msg_queue.get_nowait()
-            except asyncio.QueueEmpty:
+            except (asyncio.QueueEmpty, QueueEmpty):
                 return None
         await dispatch(*args)