diff a/src/rrd_cgi.c b/src/rrd_cgi.c
--- a/src/rrd_cgi.c
+++ b/src/rrd_cgi.c
@@ -988,7 +988,10 @@ char     *printtimelast(
         if (buf == NULL) {
             return stralloc("[ERROR: allocating strftime buffer]");
         };
-        last = rrd_last(argc + 1, (char **) args - 1);
+        /* not raising argc in step with args - 1 since the last argument
+           will be used below for strftime  */
+
+        last = rrd_last(argc, (char **) args - 1);
         if (rrd_test_error()) {
             char     *err =
                 malloc((strlen(rrd_get_error()) +
@@ -1001,10 +1004,7 @@ char     *printtimelast(
         strftime(buf, 254, args[1], &tm_last);
         return buf;
     }
-    if (argc < 2) {
-        return stralloc("[ERROR: too few arguments for RRD::TIME::LAST]");
-    }
-    return stralloc("[ERROR: not enough arguments for RRD::TIME::LAST]");
+    return stralloc("[ERROR: expected <RRD::TIME::LAST file.rrd strftime-format>]");
 }
 
 char     *printtimenow(
@@ -1053,7 +1053,7 @@ char     *scanargs(
     int       curarg_contains_rrd_directives;
 
     /* local array of arguments while parsing */
-    int       argc = 0;
+    int       argc = 1;
     char    **argv;
 
 #ifdef DEBUG_PARSER
@@ -1069,6 +1069,7 @@ char     *scanargs(
     if (!argv) {
         return NULL;
     }
+    argv[0] = "rrdcgi";
 
     /* skip leading blanks */
     while (isspace((int) *line)) {
@@ -1172,7 +1173,7 @@ char     *scanargs(
         argv[argc - 1] = rrd_expand_vars(stralloc(argv[argc - 1]));
     }
 #ifdef DEBUG_PARSER
-    if (argc > 0) {
+    if (argc > 1) {
         int       n;
 
         printf("<-- arguments found [%d]\n", argc);
@@ -1186,8 +1187,17 @@ char     *scanargs(
 #endif
 
     /* update caller's notion of the argument array and it's size */
-    *arguments = argv;
-    *argument_count = argc;
+
+    /* note this is a bit of a hack since the rrd_cgi code used to just put
+       its arguments into a normal array starting at 0 ... since the rrd_*
+       commands expect and argc/argv array we used to just shift everything
+       by -1 ... this in turn exploded when a rrd_* function tried to print
+       argv[0] ... hence we are now doing everything in argv style but hand
+       over seemingly the old array ... but doing argv-1 will actually end
+       up in a 'good' place now. */
+
+    *arguments = argv+1;
+    *argument_count = argc-1;
 
     if (Quote) {
         return NULL;
@@ -1241,7 +1251,7 @@ int parse(
     if (end) {
         /* got arguments, call function for 'tag' with arguments */
         val = func(argc, (const char **) args);
-        free(args);
+        free(args-1);
     } else {
         /* unable to parse arguments, undo 0-termination by scanargs */
         for (; argc > 0; argc--) {