Joe Piscopo hosts his New York radio show

Comedian Joe Piscopo hosts his morning-drive radio show on The Answer 970-AM in New York City. (Photo by Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

TRENTON -- "Saturday Night Live" alum Joe Piscopo has decided he will not run for New Jersey governor as a Republican and instead is planning to declare he will jump into the race to succeed Gov. Chris Christie as an independent candidate, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Piscopo made his decision because he did not begin the process of running early enough to run as a Republican, according to two sources close to the performer who requested anonymity because they did not want to publicly discuss an official announcement that could trigger state election laws on fundraising.

Republican county chairs started the process of making endorsements awarding their ballot lines starting in late January in anticipation of the April 3 deadline to file as primary candidates. Thus far, the lion's share of endorsements have gone to Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.

"You have to be out early," one Piscopo insider said. "And he didn't start early enough."

The sources say Piscopo was also unwilling to give up hosting his morning radio show on New York City's 970-AM, owned by the conservative-leaning Salem Broadcasting, during the primary season.

The Federal Communications Commission's "equal time" rule means that he would have needed step down from the show, which is the mainstay of Piscopo's income and public attention, as soon as he declared.

Because the filing deadline for independents isn't until June 6, Piscopo would buy himself an extra eight weeks on the show, the sources said.

In addition, Piscopo was leery of running as a Republican because of the record-low popularity of Christie, the sources said.

The Republican governor currently suffers a 17 percent approval rating, tied for the lowest-ever recorded in modern New Jersey political history.

A spokesman for Piscopo declined to comment for this report.

In an an interview with the Record in the Record published on Friday, Piscopo insisted that "There is no way a Republican can win in New Jersey" and that "an independent has a better chance to win.''

Independent candidates have never fared well in New Jersey, but political experts say Piscopo has high name recognition and could make waves in this year's governor's race.

Opinions differ among Republican county chairs as to which major party candidate he would hurt the most. Republican Guadagno and Democrat Phil Murphy are considered the front-runners in the primaries.

At a meeting last December, Bergen County GOP chairman Paul DiGaetano and longtime Piscopo friend said he warned him against running outside the two-party system.

"I told him if he ran as an independent, he would likely lose," DiGaetano said. "And likely cause the Democrat to win."

But other GOP county chairs aren't so sure about that.

Hudson County Republican chairman Jose Arango notes that as a former Democrat, Piscopo would likely over-perform in areas where Democrats tend to do better, hurting the eventual Democratic nominee.

"Where he's going to be successful is in Passaic and Essex, where he grew up," Arango said. "Those aren't areas where Republicans tend to do well."

But while even seasoned GOP party chairmen are bewildered about whether Piscopo would draw more from the eventual Democratic or Republican nominee, they agree that without a major party infrastructure to piggyback on local campaigns to get out the vote, running as an independent would make Piscopo's path to victory much tougher.

"Inside a political science class, it sounds great," said Al Barlas, Essex County GOP chairman. "But the reality is that Joe running as an independent is like ascending Mount Everest without an oxygen tank."

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.