diff --git a/t/t1004-kvs-namespace.t b/t/t1004-kvs-namespace.t
index 15c972fd8267..02955b44681c 100755
--- a/t/t1004-kvs-namespace.t
+++ b/t/t1004-kvs-namespace.t
@@ -510,17 +510,12 @@ test_expect_success NO_CHAIN_LINT 'kvs: incomplete fence gets ENOTSUP when names
 test_expect_success NO_CHAIN_LINT 'kvs: incomplete fence on rank 1 gets ENOTSUP when namespace is removed' '
         flux kvs namespace-create $NAMESPACETMP-REMOVE-FENCE1 &&
         rm -f fence_out
-        flux exec -r 1 sh -c "export FLUX_KVS_NAMESPACE=$NAMESPACETMP-REMOVE-FENCE1 ; echo "llaa" ; stdbuf -oL ${FLUX_BUILD_DIR}/t/kvs/fence_namespace_remove fence1" > fence_out &
+        stdbuf -oL flux exec -r 1 sh -c "export FLUX_KVS_NAMESPACE=$NAMESPACETMP-REMOVE-FENCE1 ; ${FLUX_BUILD_DIR}/t/kvs/fence_namespace_remove fence1" > fence_out &
         watchpid=$! &&
-        echo "wait for ready" &&
         wait_watch_current fence_out "ready" &&
-        echo "sleep" &&
         sleep 5 &&
-        echo "namespace remove" &&
         flux kvs namespace-remove $NAMESPACETMP-REMOVE-FENCE1 &&
-        echo "after remove" &&
         wait $watchpid &&
-        echo "after wait $?" &&
         grep "flux_future_get: Operation not supported" fence_out
 '