diff --git a/cli/src/config.rs b/cli/src/config.rs
index 453d7dabed..e574df9b89 100644
--- a/cli/src/config.rs
+++ b/cli/src/config.rs
@@ -324,7 +324,28 @@ fn env_base() -> config::Config {
         builder = builder.set_override("ui.color", "never").unwrap();
     }
     if let Ok(value) = env::var("PAGER") {
-        builder = builder.set_override("ui.pager", value).unwrap();
+        builder = builder
+            .set_override(
+                "ui.pager.command",
+                config::Value::new(
+                    None,
+                    config::ValueKind::Array(vec![config::Value::new(
+                        None,
+                        config::ValueKind::String(value),
+                    )]),
+                ),
+            )
+            .unwrap();
+    }
+    // Override $LESS and $LESSCHARSET in `ui.pager.env` if they're set in the
+    // environment
+    if let Ok(value) = env::var("LESS") {
+        builder = builder.set_override("ui.pager.env.LESS", value).unwrap();
+    }
+    if let Ok(value) = env::var("LESSCHARSET") {
+        builder = builder
+            .set_override("ui.pager.env.LESSCHARSET", value)
+            .unwrap();
     }
     if let Ok(value) = env::var("VISUAL") {
         builder = builder.set_override("ui.editor", value).unwrap();
diff --git a/cli/src/config/misc.toml b/cli/src/config/misc.toml
index dc279216ac..480d19e5c0 100644
--- a/cli/src/config/misc.toml
+++ b/cli/src/config/misc.toml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ allow-filesets = false
 always-allow-large-revsets = false
 diff-instructions = true
 paginate = "auto"
-pager = { command = ["less", "-FRX"], env = { LESSCHARSET = "utf-8" } }
+pager = { command = ["less"], env = { LESS = "-FRX", LESSCHARSET = "utf-8" } }
 log-word-wrap = false
 log-synthetic-elided-nodes = true