diff --git a/IPython/frontend/qt/console/call_tip_widget.py b/IPython/frontend/qt/console/call_tip_widget.py
index c918737..838f03e 100644
--- a/IPython/frontend/qt/console/call_tip_widget.py
+++ b/IPython/frontend/qt/console/call_tip_widget.py
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ class CallTipWidget(QtGui.QLabel):
 
         if call_line:
             doc = '\n\n'.join([call_line, doc])
-        return self.show_tip(doc)
+        return self.show_tip(self._format_tooltip(doc))
 
     def show_tip(self, tip):
         """ Attempts to show the specified tip at the current cursor location.
@@ -248,6 +248,17 @@ class CallTipWidget(QtGui.QLabel):
             QtGui.qApp.topLevelAt(QtGui.QCursor.pos()) != self):
             self._hide_timer.start(300, self)
 
+    def _format_tooltip(self,doc):
+        import textwrap
+
+        # make sure a long argument list does not make
+        # the first row overflow the width of the actual tip body
+        rows = doc.split("\n")
+        max_text_width = max(80, max([len(x) for x in rows[1:]]))
+        rows= textwrap.wrap(rows[0],max_text_width) + rows[1:]
+        doc = "\n".join(rows)
+        return doc
+
     #------ Signal handlers ----------------------------------------------------
 
     def _cursor_position_changed(self):