diff --git a/py/client-ticking/src/pydeephaven_ticking/table_listener.py b/py/client-ticking/src/pydeephaven_ticking/table_listener.py
index 6bcbbfbf282..2d9891e355c 100644
--- a/py/client-ticking/src/pydeephaven_ticking/table_listener.py
+++ b/py/client-ticking/src/pydeephaven_ticking/table_listener.py
@@ -216,9 +216,12 @@ def stop(self) -> None:
         This can happen if the user's callback calls stop()."""
 
         self._cancelled = True
+        if threading.get_ident() == self._thread.ident:
+            # We are inside the callback, so just setting the 'cancelled' flag suffices.
+            return
+
         self._reader.cancel()
-        if threading.get_ident() != self._thread.ident:
-            self._thread.join()
+        self._thread.join()
 
     def _process_data(self):
         """This method continuously runs on a separate thread. It processes incoming Barrage messages, feeds them to