diff --git a/dateutil/test/test_tz.py b/dateutil/test/test_tz.py
index 91e3ecb3c..cd54eb913 100644
--- a/dateutil/test/test_tz.py
+++ b/dateutil/test/test_tz.py
@@ -1101,36 +1101,35 @@ def test_gettz_badzone_unicode():
     tzi = tz.gettz('🐼')
     assert tzi is None
 
-    
+
 @pytest.mark.gettz
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    'badzone', [
+    "badzone,exc_reason",
+    [
         pytest.param(
-            b'America/New_York',
-            id='bytes on python 3',
+            b"America/New_York",
+            ".*should be str, not bytes.*",
+            id="bytes on Python 3",
             marks=[
-                pytest.mark.xfail(
-                    raises=TypeError,
-                    reason='bytes.startswith first arg must be bytes, not str',
-                ),
                 pytest.mark.skipif(
-                    sys.version_info < (3, 0),
-                    reason='bytes are str in Python 2',
+                    PY2, reason="bytes arguments accepted in Python 2"
                 )
-            ]
+            ],
         ),
         pytest.param(
             object(),
-            id='no startswith() method',
-            marks=pytest.mark.xfail(
-                raises=AttributeError,
-                reason='object must support startswith with str prefix',
-            ),
-        )
-    ]
+            None,
+            id="no startswith()",
+            marks=[
+                pytest.mark.xfail(reason="AttributeError instead of TypeError",
+                                  raises=AttributeError),
+            ],
+        ),
+    ],
 )
-def test_gettz_zone_startswith(badzone):
-    tz.gettz(badzone)
+def test_gettz_zone_wrong_type(badzone, exc_reason):
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match=exc_reason):
+        tz.gettz(badzone)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.gettz