diff --git a/include/cyclone/runtime.h b/include/cyclone/runtime.h
index 37a395a8..e0978bb6 100644
--- a/include/cyclone/runtime.h
+++ b/include/cyclone/runtime.h
@@ -66,12 +66,11 @@ void gc_init_heap(long heap_size);
  *
  */
 /**@{*/
-#define Cyc_check_num_args(data, fnc_name, num_args, args) { \
-  object l = Cyc_length(data, args); \
-  if (num_args > obj_obj2int(l)) { \
+#define Cyc_check_num_args(data, fnc_name, num_expected_args, args, args_len) { \
+  if (num_expected_args > args_len) { \
     char buf[128]; \
-    snprintf(buf, 127, "Expected %d arguments to %s but received %ld", \
-             num_args, fnc_name, obj_obj2int(l));  \
+    snprintf(buf, 127, "Expected %d arguments to %s but received %d", \
+             num_expected_args, fnc_name, args_len);  \
     Cyc_rt_raise_msg(data, buf); \
   } \
 }
diff --git a/runtime.c b/runtime.c
index c66241f9..aea47931 100644
--- a/runtime.c
+++ b/runtime.c
@@ -5781,16 +5781,11 @@ object apply_va(void *data, object cont, int argc, object func, ...)
  */
 object apply(void *data, object cont, object func, object args)
 {
-  object count;
+  int count;
 
-//printf("DEBUG apply: ");
-//Cyc_display(data, args);
-//printf("\n");
   if (!is_object_type(func)) {
     Cyc_rt_raise2(data, "Call of non-procedure: ", func);
   }
-  // Causes problems...
-  //Cyc_check_pair_or_null(args);
 
   switch (type_of(func)) {
   case primitive_tag:
@@ -5798,18 +5793,14 @@ object apply(void *data, object cont, object func, object args)
   case closure0_tag:
   case closure1_tag:
   case closureN_tag:
-    count = Cyc_length(data, args);
+    count = obj_obj2int(Cyc_length(data, args));
     if (func == Cyc_glo_call_cc) {
-//      make_pair(c, cont, args);
-//Cyc_display(data, args, stderr);
-//        args = &c;
-//Cyc_display(data, &c, stderr);
-      Cyc_check_num_args(data, "<procedure>", 1, args);
-      dispatch(data, obj_obj2int(count), ((closure) func)->fn, func, cont,
+      Cyc_check_num_args(data, "<procedure>", 1, args, count);
+      dispatch(data, count, ((closure) func)->fn, func, cont,
                args);
     } else {
-      Cyc_check_num_args(data, "<procedure>", ((closure) func)->num_args, args);  // TODO: could be more efficient, eg: cyc_length(args) is called twice.
-      dispatch(data, obj_obj2int(count), ((closure) func)->fn, func, cont, args);
+      Cyc_check_num_args(data, "<procedure>", ((closure) func)->num_args, args, count);
+      dispatch(data, count, ((closure) func)->fn, func, cont, args);
     }
     break;