diff --git a/distributed/comm/tcp.py b/distributed/comm/tcp.py
index 769e9132abe..940de0ec5ad 100644
--- a/distributed/comm/tcp.py
+++ b/distributed/comm/tcp.py
@@ -186,13 +186,12 @@ async def read(self, deserializers=None):
             lengths = await stream.read_bytes(8 * n_frames)
             lengths = struct.unpack("Q" * n_frames, lengths)
 
-            frames = []
-            for length in lengths:
-                frame = bytearray(length)
-                if length:
-                    n = await stream.read_into(frame)
-                    assert n == length, (n, length)
-                frames.append(frame)
+            frames = [bytearray(each_length) for each_length in lengths]
+            recv_frames = [each_frame for each_frame in frames if len(each_frame) > 0]
+            for each_frame in recv_frames:
+                each_length = len(each_frame)
+                n = await stream.read_into(each_frame)
+                assert n == each_length, (n, each_length)
         except StreamClosedError as e:
             self.stream = None
             if not shutting_down():