diff --git a/mypy/waiter.py b/mypy/waiter.py
index f0c7de6002a6..e8ba99d4efd8 100644
--- a/mypy/waiter.py
+++ b/mypy/waiter.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 from multiprocessing import cpu_count
 import pipes
 import re
-from subprocess import Popen, STDOUT
+from subprocess import Popen, STDOUT, DEVNULL
 import sys
 import tempfile
 import time
@@ -25,20 +25,22 @@ class LazySubprocess:
     """Wrapper around a subprocess that runs a test task."""
 
     def __init__(self, name: str, args: List[str], *, cwd: str = None,
-                 env: Dict[str, str] = None, passthrough: bool = False) -> None:
+                 env: Dict[str, str] = None, passthrough: Optional[int] = None) -> None:
         self.name = name
         self.args = args
         self.cwd = cwd
         self.env = env
         self.start_time = None  # type: float
         self.end_time = None  # type: float
+        # None means no passthrough
+        # otherwise, it represents verbosity level
         self.passthrough = passthrough
 
     def start(self) -> None:
-        if self.passthrough:
-            self.outfile = None
-        else:
+        if self.passthrough is None or self.passthrough < 0:
             self.outfile = tempfile.TemporaryFile()
+        else:
+            self.outfile = None
         self.start_time = time.perf_counter()
         self.process = Popen(self.args, cwd=self.cwd, env=self.env,
                              stdout=self.outfile, stderr=STDOUT)
@@ -51,7 +53,7 @@ def status(self) -> Optional[int]:
         return self.process.returncode
 
     def read_output(self) -> str:
-        if self.passthrough:
+        if not self.outfile:
             return ''
         file = self.outfile
         file.seek(0)
diff --git a/runtests.py b/runtests.py
index 3371f9ae8b91..7d6206ca0652 100755
--- a/runtests.py
+++ b/runtests.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ def add_pytest(self, name: str, pytest_args: List[str], coverage: bool = False)
         else:
             args = [sys.executable, '-m', 'pytest'] + pytest_args
 
-        self.waiter.add(LazySubprocess(full_name, args, env=self.env, passthrough=True),
+        self.waiter.add(LazySubprocess(full_name, args, env=self.env, passthrough=self.verbosity),
                         sequential=True)
 
     def add_python(self, name: str, *args: str, cwd: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
@@ -422,6 +422,13 @@ def main() -> None:
         pyt_arglist.append('--lf')
     if ff:
         pyt_arglist.append('--ff')
+    if verbosity >= 1:
+        pyt_arglist.extend(['-v'] * verbosity)
+    elif verbosity < 0:
+        pyt_arglist.extend(['-q'] * (-verbosity))
+    if parallel_limit:
+        if '-n' not in pyt_arglist:
+            pyt_arglist.append('-n{}'.format(parallel_limit))
 
     driver = Driver(whitelist=whitelist, blacklist=blacklist, lf=lf, ff=ff,
                     arglist=arglist, pyt_arglist=pyt_arglist, verbosity=verbosity,