diff --git a/ibis/backends/tests/test_interactive.py b/ibis/backends/tests/test_interactive.py
index 6acda4055866..05b40a3f72fd 100644
--- a/ibis/backends/tests/test_interactive.py
+++ b/ibis/backends/tests/test_interactive.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 import ibis
+import ibis.common.exceptions as exc
 from ibis import config
 
 
@@ -89,3 +90,18 @@ def test_isin_rule_suppressed_exception_repr_not_fail(table):
     expr = table.filter(bool_clause)["string_col"].value_counts()
 
     repr(expr)
+
+
+def test_no_recursion_error(con, monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr(ibis.options, "interactive", True)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(ibis.options, "default_backend", con)
+
+    a = ibis.memtable({"a": [1]})
+    b = ibis.memtable({"b": [1]})
+
+    expr = a.count() + b.count()
+
+    with pytest.raises(
+        exc.RelationError, match="The scalar expression cannot be converted"
+    ):
+        repr(expr)
diff --git a/ibis/expr/types/generic.py b/ibis/expr/types/generic.py
index 76d357484c7e..68df1d4d88f3 100644
--- a/ibis/expr/types/generic.py
+++ b/ibis/expr/types/generic.py
@@ -1366,7 +1366,7 @@ def as_table(self) -> ir.Table:
             return parent.to_expr().aggregate(self)
         else:
             raise com.RelationError(
-                f"The scalar expression {self} cannot be converted to a "
+                "The scalar expression cannot be converted to a "
                 "table expression because it involves multiple base table "
                 "references"
             )