diff --git a/falcon/util/misc.py b/falcon/util/misc.py
index 666019a41..bac598ebc 100644
--- a/falcon/util/misc.py
+++ b/falcon/util/misc.py
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 import http
 import inspect
 import re
-from typing import Callable
 import unicodedata
 
 from falcon import status_codes
@@ -71,17 +70,17 @@
 _UNSAFE_CHARS = re.compile(r'[^a-zA-Z0-9.-]')
 
 # PERF(kgriffs): Avoid superfluous namespace lookups
-_strptime: Callable[[str, str], datetime.datetime] = datetime.datetime.strptime
-_utcnow: Callable[[], datetime.datetime] = functools.partial(
+_strptime = datetime.datetime.strptime
+_utcnow = functools.partial(
     datetime.datetime.now, datetime.timezone.utc
 )
 
 # The above aliases were not underscored prior to Falcon 3.1.2.
-strptime: Callable[[str, str], datetime.datetime] = deprecated(
+strptime = deprecated(
     'This was a private alias local to this module; '
     'please reference datetime.strptime() directly.'
 )(datetime.datetime.strptime)
-utcnow: Callable[[], datetime.datetime] = deprecated(
+utcnow = deprecated(
     'This was a private alias local to this module; '
     'please reference datetime.utcnow() directly.'
 )(datetime.datetime.utcnow)
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index df064befd..fe2831bf1 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -99,6 +99,13 @@ deps = {[testenv]deps}
 commands = pip uninstall --yes msgpack
            coverage run -m pytest tests -k "test_ws and test_msgpack_missing"
 
+[testenv:py35]
+deps = {[testenv]deps}
+       pytest-randomly
+       jsonschema
+commands = python "{toxinidir}/tools/clean.py" "{toxinidir}/falcon"
+           coverage run -m pytest tests --ignore=tests/asgi []
+
 [testenv:py310]
 basepython = python3.10
 deps = {[testenv]deps}