diff --git a/underscore.js b/underscore.js
index 2462d767f..1f7df5ad5 100644
--- a/underscore.js
+++ b/underscore.js
@@ -899,8 +899,8 @@
          .replace(/\n/g, '\\n')
          .replace(/\t/g, '\\t')
          + "');}return __p.join('');";
-    var func = new Function('obj', tmpl);
-    return data ? func(data) : func;
+    var func = new Function('obj', '_', tmpl);
+    return data ? func(data, _) : function(data) { return func(data, _) };
   };
 
   // The OOP Wrapper