diff --git a/client/utils/p5-javascript.js b/client/utils/p5-javascript.js
index af34681c07..cdf9149a06 100644
--- a/client/utils/p5-javascript.js
+++ b/client/utils/p5-javascript.js
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ CodeMirror.defineMode("javascript", function(config, parserConfig) {
         var kw = keywords[word]
         return ret(kw.type, kw.style, word)
       }
-      if (state.lastType != "." && word == "async" && stream.match(/^(\s|\/\*.*?\*\/)*[\[\(\w]/, false))
+      if (state.lastType != "." && word == "async" && stream.match(/^(\s|\/\*([^*]|\*(?!\/))*?\*\/)*[\[\(\w]/, false))
         return ret("async", "keyword", word)
       return ret("variable", "variable", word)
     }