Do ordered comparisons with mixed types in Python 3 (good for sorting heterogeneous lists)

compare.py

def compare(x, y):
    if x == y:
        return 0
    try:
        if x < y:
            return -1
        else:
            return 1
    except TypeError as e:
        # The case where both are None is taken care of by the equality test
        if x is None:
            return -1
        elif y is None:
            return 1

        # Compare by type name
        if type(x) != type(y):
            return compare(type(x).__name__, type(y).__name__)
        elif isinstance(x, type):
            return compare(x.__name__, y.__name__)

        # Types are the same but a native compare didn't work, recursively compare elements
        try:
            for a, b in zip(x, y):
                c = compare(a, b)
                if c != 0:
                    return c
        except TypeError:
            raise e

        return compare(len(x), len(y))

# Sorting example
if __name__ == '__main__':
    from functools import cmp_to_key

    l = ["str", str, int, dict, (None, 2), (0, 1), [None, None, None], (None, "str", None), (None, "str"), ["str", 2, None], 10, None, 5]
    sl = sorted(l, key=cmp_to_key(compare))

    print("Unsorted:\n{}".format(l))
    print("Script output:\n{}".format(sl))
    print("Python 2.7.8 output:\n[None, 5, 10, [None, None, None], ['str', 2, None], 'str', (None, 2), (None, 'str'), (None, 'str', None), (0, 1), <type 'int'>, <type 'dict'>, <type 'str'>]")

Thanks, fixed (damn tabs)