diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/altair/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/altair/default.nix
index 313e8e22f3e4..2714c8dc8e30 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/altair/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/altair/default.nix
@@ -12,17 +12,16 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     sha256 = "9f4bc7cd132c0005deb6b36c7041ee213a69bbdfcd8c0b1a9f1ae8c1fba733f6";
   };
 
+  postPatch = ''
+    # Tests require network
+    rm altair/examples/boxplot_max_min.py altair/examples/line_percent.py
+  '';
+
   checkInputs = [ pytest jinja2 sphinx vega_datasets ipython glibcLocales recommonmark ];
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ entrypoints jsonschema numpy pandas six toolz ]
     ++ stdenv.lib.optionals (pythonOlder "3.5") [ typing ];
 
-  # hack to prevent typing from being required for python > 3.5
-  postPatch = ''
-    substituteInPlace requirements.txt \
-       --replace "typing" ""
-  '';
-
   checkPhase = ''
     export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
     py.test altair --doctest-modules