Barack Obama has wished a happy birthday to his former Vice President, Joe Biden, with a nod toward the viral jokes about the two men’s affectionate relationship.

Mr Obama acknowledged Mr Biden’s birthday by tweeting a photo of himself giving a speech, with the Vice President sitting behind him, grinning and pointing excitedly.

The former President captioned the photo in the style of popular internet memes, writing:

“ME: Joe, about halfway through the speech, I’m gonna wish you a happy birth–

BIDEN: IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!

ME: Joe.”

The tweet mirrors a popular joke in which people post photos of the two men and poke fun at their imagined dialogue. The fictional conversations generally cast Mr Biden as an over-excited, child-like figure, and Mr Obama as the restrained adult.

Perhaps to soften the blow of the tongue-in-cheek tweet, Mr Obama added:

“Happy birthday to @JoeBiden, my brother and the best vice president anybody could have.”

The jokes about the two men's relationship have become so popular that even Mr Biden has acknowledged them, telling NBC that the memes were "all true".

“All those memes - there are thousands of them out there - in essence, they're all true,” he said. “We had that kind of relationship."

Mr Biden also got in on the joke with his tweet for Mr Obama's 55th birthday last year. The former Vice President played up the pair’s so-called “bromance” by posting a photo of two friendship bracelets reading “Joe” and “Barack”.

"Happy 55th, Barack! A brother to me, a best friend forever," he wrote.

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The two men first met while serving in the Senate together, but became close over eight years – and an estimated 416 lunches – in the White House. The men’s close relationship was a fixture of the Obama administration and a favourite talking point for fans, perhaps due to the striking photos it spawned.

Earlier this year, for example, both men had tears in their eyes when Mr Obama awarded his Vice President the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As cameras clicked at the photo-perfect moment, Mr Biden told his friend: "Mr. President, I'm indebted to you. I'm indebted to your friendship. I'm indebted to your family."