diff --git a/pecan/tests/test_util.py b/pecan/tests/test_util.py
index 00e81f5..903d084 100644
--- a/pecan/tests/test_util.py
+++ b/pecan/tests/test_util.py
@@ -93,3 +93,23 @@ class TestArgSpec(unittest.TestCase):
         actual = util.getargspec(dec(True)(
             self.controller.static_index))
         assert expected == actual
+
+    def test_nested_cells(self):
+
+        def before(handler):
+            def deco(f):
+                def wrapped(*args, **kwargs):
+                    if callable(handler):
+                        handler()
+                    return f(*args, **kwargs)
+                return wrapped
+            return deco
+
+        class RootController(object):
+            @expose()
+            @before(lambda: True)
+            def index(self, a, b, c):
+                return 'Hello, World!'
+
+        argspec = util._cfg(RootController.index)['argspec']
+        assert argspec.args == ['self', 'a', 'b', 'c']
diff --git a/pecan/util.py b/pecan/util.py
index bdb5d2b..2c61475 100644
--- a/pecan/util.py
+++ b/pecan/util.py
@@ -26,15 +26,26 @@ def getargspec(method):
     # NOTE(sileht): if the closure is None we cannot look deeper,
     # so return actual argspec, this occurs when the method
     # is static for example.
-    if func_closure is None:
+    if not func_closure:
         return argspec
 
-    closure = next(
-        (
-            c for c in func_closure if six.callable(c.cell_contents)
-        ),
-        None
+    closure = None
+    # In the case of deeply nested decorators (with arguments), it's possible
+    # that there are several callables in scope;  Take a best guess and go
+    # with the one that looks most like a pecan controller function
+    # ('self' is the first argument)
+    func_closure = filter(
+        lambda c: six.callable(c.cell_contents),
+        func_closure
     )
+    func_closure = sorted(
+        func_closure,
+        key=lambda c: 'self' in c.cell_contents.__code__.co_varnames,
+        reverse=True
+    )
+
+    closure = func_closure[0]
+
     method = closure.cell_contents
     return getargspec(method)