IPython.embed(), displaying matplotlib histograms

I often use ipython to display an interactive prompt, while matplotlib histograms are shown in the background. An example of this usage is shown below.

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig,axes = plt.subplots()
axes.plot([1,2,3,4,5],[1,2,1,2,1])
plt.show(block=False)

import IPython; IPython.embed()

The intended behavior is that the histogram is displayed, and can then be interacted with while the ipython interpreter is being used. In recent versions of ipython, the matplotlib plot is displayed, but cannot be interacted with. All mouse interactions with the plot are delayed until I hit Ctrl-D to close the ipython interpreter. I have attempted to use the %matplotlib magic method after getting into the ipython interpreter, but this only causes the plot to disappear.

Going through different versions of ipython available through pip, this issue arose between versions 4.2.1 and 5.0.0.

[takluyver]

The code below works for me. You need to enable mpl integration before drawing the plot, because it calls plt.switch_backend(), which closes any open figures.

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from IPython.terminal.embed import InteractiveShellEmbed

shell = InteractiveShellEmbed()
shell.enable_matplotlib()

fig,axes = plt.subplots()
axes.plot([1,2,3,4,5],[1,2,1,2,1])
plt.show(block=False)

shell()

[Shivaspace4]

any suggestions on the above issue?