Look who's back! Barack Obama makes surprise appearance at Joe Biden's White House state dinner for Kenya

Former President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at President Joe Biden's state dinner for the president of Kenya.

Obama, wearing a tux, was attending a VIP reception in the blue room of the White House for Kenyan President William Ruto, when he decided to drop in the glass pavilion on the South Lawn where the state dinner was taking place.

The former president walked down from the White House to the tent in the lower part of the White House lawn. He worked the room for about 10 minutes, leaving as President Biden was giving his toast. He slipped out a side door.

'He dropped into the dinner area to say hello,' a Obama official said. 

Biden acknowledged his predecessor's drop in.

'Jill and I are honored to have you here and represented including many members, the African diaspora. One just left - Barack,' the president said at the top of his toast. 'He very briefly met President this morning and just here a little while ago.'

Former President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken chat the Bidens' state dinner for the president of Kenya

Earlier Thursday, Obama, whose late father was Kenyan, met with Ruto at Blair House, the ornate guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, where foreign dignitaries often stay.

The meeting, which Ruto confirmed in social media posts, was squeezed into a packed schedule that included a South Lawn ceremony, an Oval Office meeting and a press conference where Biden had to ask for stage directions multiple times.

'How have you been? Welcome to Washington. I hope everything is going well,' Obama told Ruto at the top of the Blair House meeting.

In his Facebook post, Ruto said he and the former president discussed 'opportunities available to Africa's young' as well as 'democratic developments, climate and peace and security challenges in Africa.' 

The Bidens were hosting the Rutos for their sixth state dinner. With 500 guests invited, it was the biggest of their administration to date.

Ruto thanked the Bidens for giving him and his wife Rachel a warm welcome.

'It is now my honor to ask you ladies and gentlemen to raise your glasses and join me in a toast to the continued well being and long life of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill, to the continued security and prosperity of the people of the United States, and to the enduring bonds of friendship, partnership and solidarity between Kenya and the United States,' Ruto said. 

Barack Obama was at a reception at the White House and decided to walk down to the tent holding the state dinner to say hi

Biden left as President Joe Biden was giving his toast, slipping out a side door

Former presidents tend not to be invited to White House state dinners in order to not overshadow the current Oval Office occupant. 

But the Bidens already bucked that tradition last month by inviting former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Democratic nominee and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to a dinner feting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. 

That opened the door to the Obamas attending Thursday night's state dinner with Kenya, especially with the former president's familial connection.

Obama and Ruto previously met in 2015 during President Obama's visit to Kenya and while Ruto was serving as deputy president. 

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden enter the outdoor pavilion with Kenya's President William Ruto and first lady Rachel Ruto 

Kenyan President William Ruto and President Biden give their toasts at the head table

The Howard University Gospel Choir performs in a glass pavilion on the South Lawn where the state dinner took place

Obama made history as the country's first black president when he was elected in 2008. 

His mother was a white woman from Kansas, while his father was from Kenya.  

Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr., didn't play an active role in his son's life. 

Obama Sr. returned to Kenya when the future president was only a few years old and the two only saw each other one more time, when Barack was 10. 

The elder Obama died at age 48 in 1982 from injuries sustained in a car crash.