diff --git a/r2/r2/controllers/toolbar.py b/r2/r2/controllers/toolbar.py
index 75195ed24..a994e8d64 100644
--- a/r2/r2/controllers/toolbar.py
+++ b/r2/r2/controllers/toolbar.py
@@ -203,10 +203,9 @@ class ToolbarController(RedditController):
         wrapper = make_wrapper(render_class = StarkComment,
                                target = "_top")
         b = TopCommentBuilder(link, CommentSortMenu.operator('confidence'),
-                              wrap = wrapper)
+                              num=10, wrap=wrapper)
 
-        listing = NestedListing(b, num = 10, # TODO: add config var
-                                parent_name = link._fullname)
+        listing = NestedListing(b, parent_name=link._fullname)
 
         raw_bar = strings.comments_panel_text % dict(
             fd_link=link.permalink)
diff --git a/r2/r2/lib/pages/pages.py b/r2/r2/lib/pages/pages.py
index 4461db68a..923aeac3a 100644
--- a/r2/r2/lib/pages/pages.py
+++ b/r2/r2/lib/pages/pages.py
@@ -1382,9 +1382,8 @@ class CommentPane(Templated):
 
         def renderer():
             builder = CommentBuilder(article, sort, comment=comment,
-                                     context=context, **kw)
-            listing = NestedListing(builder, num = num,
-                                    parent_name = article._fullname)
+                                     context=context, num=num, **kw)
+            listing = NestedListing(builder, parent_name=article._fullname)
             return listing.listing()
 
         # disable the cache if the user is the author of anything in the
diff --git a/r2/r2/lib/recommender.py b/r2/r2/lib/recommender.py
index e48b5a225..0891356b0 100644
--- a/r2/r2/lib/recommender.py
+++ b/r2/r2/lib/recommender.py
@@ -229,10 +229,9 @@ def get_comment_items(srs, src, count=4):
                                  operators.desc('_confidence'),
                                  comment=None,
                                  context=None,
+                                 num=1,
                                  load_more=False)
-        listing = NestedListing(builder,
-                                num=1,
-                                parent_name=link._fullname).listing()
+        listing = NestedListing(builder, parent_name=link._fullname).listing()
         top_comments.extend(listing.things)
     srs = Subreddit._byID([com.sr_id for com in top_comments])
     links = Link._byID([com.link_id for com in top_comments])
diff --git a/r2/r2/models/builder.py b/r2/r2/models/builder.py
index 602f18468..d4e4a09cc 100755
--- a/r2/r2/models/builder.py
+++ b/r2/r2/models/builder.py
@@ -688,7 +688,7 @@ def make_wrapper(parent_wrapper = Wrapped, **params):
 class CommentBuilder(Builder):
     def __init__(self, link, sort, comment=None, children=None, context=None,
                  load_more=True, continue_this_thread=True,
-                 max_depth = MAX_RECURSION, **kw):
+                 max_depth=MAX_RECURSION, num=None, **kw):
         Builder.__init__(self, **kw)
         self.link = link
         self.comment = comment
@@ -696,6 +696,7 @@ class CommentBuilder(Builder):
         self.context = context or 0
         self.load_more = load_more
         self.max_depth = max_depth
+        self.num = num
 
         # This is almost always True, except in the toolbar comments panel,
         # where we never want to see "continue this thread" links
@@ -710,7 +711,7 @@ class CommentBuilder(Builder):
             sort_val = -sorter[comment] if self.rev_sort else sorter[comment]
             heapq.heappush(candidates, (sort_val, comment))
 
-    def get_items(self, num):
+    def get_items(self):
         timer = g.stats.get_timer("CommentBuilder.get_items")
         timer.start()
         r = link_comments_and_sort(self.link, self.sort.col)
@@ -772,7 +773,7 @@ class CommentBuilder(Builder):
 
         # choose which comments to show
         items = []
-        while len(items) < num and candidates:
+        while (self.num is None or len(items) < self.num) and candidates:
             sort_val, comment_id = heapq.heappop(candidates)
             if comment_id not in cids:
                 continue
@@ -1072,14 +1073,14 @@ class MultiredditMessageBuilder(MessageBuilder):
 class TopCommentBuilder(CommentBuilder):
     """A comment builder to fetch only the top-level, non-spam,
        non-deleted comments"""
-    def __init__(self, link, sort, wrap = Wrapped):
+    def __init__(self, link, sort, num=None, wrap=Wrapped):
         CommentBuilder.__init__(self, link, sort,
                                 load_more = False,
                                 continue_this_thread = False,
-                                max_depth = 1, wrap = wrap)
+                                max_depth=1, wrap=wrap, num=num)
 
-    def get_items(self, num = 10):
-        final = CommentBuilder.get_items(self, num = num)
+    def get_items(self):
+        final = CommentBuilder.get_items(self)
         return [ cm for cm in final if not cm.deleted ]
 
 class SrMessageBuilder(MessageBuilder):
diff --git a/r2/r2/models/listing.py b/r2/r2/models/listing.py
index e9c2f2502..f47c6cac1 100644
--- a/r2/r2/models/listing.py
+++ b/r2/r2/models/listing.py
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ class NestedListing(Listing):
         ##TODO use the local builder with the render cache. this may
         ##require separating the builder's get_items and tree-building
         ##functionality
-        wrapped_items = self.get_items(num = self.num)
+        wrapped_items = self.get_items()
 
         self.things = wrapped_items