diff --git a/src/playlist/control.c b/src/playlist/control.c
index e9613544598cf0269632411506a30220c5b268e4..a7e2ea241de249d01c32a09021277901c775dee1 100644
--- a/src/playlist/control.c
+++ b/src/playlist/control.c
@@ -75,8 +75,6 @@ static int PlaylistVAControl( playlist_t * p_playlist, int i_query, va_list args
         {
             p_node = p_playlist->status.p_node;
             assert( p_node );
-            if( !p_node )
-                break;
         }
         p_playlist->request.i_status = PLAYLIST_RUNNING;
         p_playlist->request.i_skip = 0;
diff --git a/src/playlist/engine.c b/src/playlist/engine.c
index fcbffa5ba882012aba4409a077d65b111458de71..d405e41107bdc98fb12d077e229b6560ff7a8d59 100644
--- a/src/playlist/engine.c
+++ b/src/playlist/engine.c
@@ -594,8 +594,7 @@ void playlist_FetcherLoop( playlist_fetcher_t *p_obj )
         vlc_mutex_unlock( &p_obj->object_lock );
         if( p_item )
         {
-            if( !p_item->p_meta )
-                return;
+            assert( p_item->p_meta );
             if( !b_fetch_art )
             {
                 input_MetaFetch( p_playlist, p_item );
diff --git a/src/playlist/search.c b/src/playlist/search.c
index 9f8402deababd2f06599a08b25fdea6fe427e5b6..c831566e3327ba24080e5c511e23fcc843da1d4f 100644
--- a/src/playlist/search.c
+++ b/src/playlist/search.c
@@ -87,8 +87,7 @@ playlist_item_t * playlist_ItemGetByInputId( playlist_t *p_playlist,
                                              playlist_item_t *p_root )
 {
     int i;
-
-    if( !p_root ) return NULL;
+    assert( p_root != NULL );
     for( i = 0 ; i< p_root->i_children ; i++ )
     {
         if( p_root->pp_children[i]->i_children == -1 &&