Will Smith wishes his 'ride or die' pal and Bad Boys co-star Martin Lawrence a ... trends now

Will Smith wished his 'ride or die' friend and co-star Martin Lawrence a happy 59th birthday on Instagram this week.

The pair have been the leads of the Bad Boys movie franchise since its original instalment in 1995, and have just finished shooting the fourth film.

Now, as they prepare for the release of Bad Boys: Ride Or Die this June, Will shared his affection for Martin with a heartwarming Instagram album.

He posted a handful of throwback shots showing the two of them through the years, including one where they fist-bumped the camera together.

At the end of the album, Will featured an MTV clip from 1994 of him and Martin performing a comedy sketch to promote the very first Bad Boys movie.

During that time, Will and Martin were starring on separate sitcoms - the former on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air and the latter on Martin.

The MTV clip showed the two men on the set of Bad Boys in Miami, with Will in a full police uniform and Martin in a simple t-shirt and trousers.

Bad Boys is a buddy cop movie, and so its co-leads began by acting out a scene of a man approaching a policeman and pleading for help.

'I need a cop!' Martin wailed, complaining that someone 'hit me in the eye,' to which Will yelled: 'Where is he?' and reached for his gun.

The two men then broke character and Martin turned to the camera, gesturing and announcing: 'Ladies and gentlemen, Will Smith.'

Martin then introduced himself and his co-star as being 'from different networks,' pointing out that Will, at 6'2", was 'tall,' while he himself, at 5'7", was 'short.'

Will tried to reassure Martin, insisting he was 'not short' but just 'pleasantly petite,' and a grateful Martin gave 'my partner' a hug.

Posting the old clip to Instagram along with the throwback pictures this Tuesday, Will wrote: 'Happy Bday to my Ride or Die @martinlawrence! Me and Marty Mar are 'bout to get on a plane and run up on y'all for @badboys, BE READY!!'