Someone at the White House is keeping their sense of humor through the dismal debt-ceiling negotiations that have been dragging on.

When David Wiggs -- known as @wiggsd on Twitter -- tweeted on Wednesday that the White House correspondence briefing wasn't "nearly as entertaining as yesterday's," the White House fired back in short order, sending him the following tweet:

"@wiggsd Sorry to hear that. Fiscal policy is important, but can be dry sometimes. Here's something more fun: tinyurl.com/y8ufsnp #WHChat."

The link, via YouTube, is the oft-mocked music video for Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."

White House staffer Brian Deese is behind the "Rickroll", an internet meme that leads upsuspecting link recipients to the unintentionally funny 1987 video.

The meme has been around for a few years -- a 2008 SurveyUSA poll found that 18 million Americans had been Rickrolled -- and could experience a resurgence after the White House nod.

National Economic Council members Deese and Jason Furman have been alternating as moderators of the "Office Hours" Twitter page, which keeps Americans informed of news and policy developments.

David Wiggs' Twitter profile says he is based in Franklin, Tenn. He calls himself "an energy tech enthusiast" and a "mediocre golfer."

Pete Waterman, Astley's former producer, spoke to The Telegraph about the White House Rickroll.

"I think it's very funny because what everybody forgets about Rick Astley is that he did a song called Together Forever," Waterman joked.

"We had a call from the White House at the time when they were going to sign the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and they wanted him to go and sing at the conference while they signed the papers.

"So it's ironic that he never did it then but all these years later the White House say to Americans, 'yeah, he's not that bad, let's listen to a bit of Rick Astley.'"

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