The Infamous Onion Joe Biden Will Be Live-Tweeting Tonight’s Veep Debate

In the pages of America's Finest News Source, Joe Biden is portrayed as a fabled figure who bounces checks and washes his car shirtless in the White House driveway. And during the debate, this hilariously fake persona will take to Twitter.

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Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 6, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It remains to be seen if Joe Biden will actually uncork an Onion-like persona at the vice presidential debate, but here’s some consolation for debate watchers: The Onion’s version of the veep will make an appearance on Twitter, at least. The satirical newspaper and website is known for its skewering of political figures, and Biden, through the years, has been one of their favorites.

At eight o’clock Eastern time “Vice President @JoeBiden will be taking over @OnionPolitics and will live-tweet his debate with Paul Ryan,” tweeted the satirical paper’s account. This is a culmination of sorts for the Joe Biden character. And if the tweets are half as amusing as The Onion‘s coverage of the veep, it’ll be a fun night for those who obsessively scan Twitter while the candidates talk over each other.

For the uninitiated, Onion Biden is typically portrayed as bumbling foil to the ever-diplomatic President Obama. Over the years faux-Biden has been seen in the pages of America’s Finest News Source in a variety of hapless situations: bouncing a check in a Delaware liquor store, sporting a ponytail at the inauguration, hitch-hiking to the Democratic National Convention and, infamously, going shirtless to wash his Pontiac in the White House driveway.

That last fake incident may just be the one that helped cement the character in public consciousness: In 2010, The New York Times featured an Onion picture of the bare-chested Biden on its homepage to highlight a story about the real veep’s reaction to his fake character’s persona. (The verdict: the real Biden seems to be mostly fine with faux-Biden. He told Yahoo! that the car washing picture was “hilarious.”)

Onion Biden may have some competition on Twitter during the debate as an amusing parody. As of Thursday morning, after TIME published photos of Rep. Paul Ryan’s weight-lifting routine, a new account of the Republican emerged: @PaulRyansBicep. Who knows, it may just serve as the counterweight to faux-Biden tonight.

MORE: A History of Vice Presidential Picks, from the Pages of TIME