diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/widgets/base.py b/src/spikeinterface/widgets/base.py
index 7440c240ce..b94167d2b7 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/widgets/base.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/widgets/base.py
@@ -109,17 +109,17 @@ def do_plot(self):
 
     @classmethod
     def ensure_sorting_analyzer(cls, input):
-        # internal help to accept both SortingAnalyzer or MockWaveformExtractor for a ploter
+        # internal help to accept both SortingAnalyzer or MockWaveformExtractor for a plotter
         if isinstance(input, SortingAnalyzer):
             return input
         elif isinstance(input, MockWaveformExtractor):
             return input.sorting_analyzer
         else:
-            return input
+            raise TypeError("input must be a SortingAnalyzer or MockWaveformExtractor")
 
     @classmethod
     def ensure_sorting(cls, input):
-        # internal help to accept both Sorting or SortingAnalyzer or MockWaveformExtractor for a ploter
+        # internal help to accept both Sorting or SortingAnalyzer or MockWaveformExtractor for a plotter
         if isinstance(input, BaseSorting):
             return input
         elif isinstance(input, SortingAnalyzer):
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ def ensure_sorting(cls, input):
         elif isinstance(input, MockWaveformExtractor):
             return input.sorting_analyzer.sorting
         else:
-            return input
+            raise TypeError("input must be a SortingAnalyzer, MockWaveformExtractor, or of type BaseSorting")
 
     @staticmethod
     def check_extensions(sorting_analyzer, extensions):
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/widgets/crosscorrelograms.py b/src/spikeinterface/widgets/crosscorrelograms.py
index 6eb565d56a..e70a5775e6 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/widgets/crosscorrelograms.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/widgets/crosscorrelograms.py
@@ -46,7 +46,9 @@ def __init__(
         backend=None,
         **backend_kwargs,
     ):
-        sorting_analyzer_or_sorting = self.ensure_sorting_analyzer(sorting_analyzer_or_sorting)
+
+        if not isinstance(sorting_analyzer_or_sorting, BaseSorting):
+            sorting_analyzer_or_sorting = self.ensure_sorting_analyzer(sorting_analyzer_or_sorting)
 
         if min_similarity_for_correlograms is None:
             min_similarity_for_correlograms = 0