diff --git a/test/external/process_replay/process_replay.py b/test/external/process_replay/process_replay.py
index 3f09df6d86..de16b111ca 100755
--- a/test/external/process_replay/process_replay.py
+++ b/test/external/process_replay/process_replay.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 # compare kernels created by HEAD against master
-import os, multiprocessing, logging, pickle, sqlite3, difflib, warnings, itertools, functools, base64, codecs
+import os, multiprocessing, logging, pickle, sqlite3, difflib, warnings, itertools, functools, base64
 from typing import Callable, Any
 from tinygrad.helpers import VERSION, Context, ContextVar, colored, db_connection, getenv, tqdm
 from tinygrad.kernelize.kernelize import get_kernelize_map
@@ -20,8 +20,7 @@ early_stop = multiprocessing.Event()
 logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO, format="%(message)s")
 MAX_LINES = 500
 def trunc_log(x):
-  if len(lines:=(x if isinstance(x, str) else repr(x)).splitlines()) > MAX_LINES:
-    lines = lines[:MAX_LINES]+[f"WARN: truncated string with {len(lines)} lines"]
+  if len(lines:=repr(x).splitlines()) > MAX_LINES: lines = lines[:MAX_LINES]+[f"WARN: truncated string with {len(lines)} lines"]
   logging.info("\n".join(lines))
 
 # user config
@@ -48,7 +47,7 @@ def replay_get_program(p:ProgramSpec, ast:UOp, renderer:Renderer) -> tuple[str,
     # PYTHON renderer pickles UOps, first unpickle and decode here
     if p.device.startswith("PYTHON"): return "\n".join([str(x) for x in pickle.loads(base64.b64decode(ret.src))])
     return ret.src
-  return to_str(p2), to_str(p), (codecs.decode(str(input_ast), "unicode_escape"), renderer)
+  return to_str(p2), to_str(p), (input_ast, renderer)
 
 replayers: dict[str, Callable[..., tuple[str, str, tuple[Any, ...]]]] = {"get_kernelize_map":replay_kernelize, "get_program":replay_get_program}