Joe Piscopo, the morning radio host and former star of "Saturday Night Live," announced Wednesday that he will not run for governor this year and will instead support Kim Guadagno, the Republican lieutenant governor.

Piscopo's announcement ends a months-long flirtation with state politics and a seemingly unending guessing game among political observers over whether he would attempt to capitalize on the enthusiasm for an outside candidate in the era of Donald Trump.

Speaking at Bergen County Community College during his radio show on AM 970, Piscopo said he had been "locked and loaded" to run for governor. But on Saturday, he said, Guadagno visited his home in Lebanon Township for a "secret summit." The two talked and found that their visions for New Jersey's future were aligned.

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Piscopo said that his entry into the race would have been more divisive than productive.

"I am not a divider," Piscopo said. "I am not an obstructionist. I am a unifier."

Piscopo, a longtime Democrat, then surprisingly endorsed Guadagno, the Republican front-runner, whom he called "the next governor of New Jersey."

Piscopo's endorsement gives Guadagno momentum heading into the final weeks of the primary contest and allows her to throw around the name of a well-known backer even if many voters are unfamiliar with her.

"I'm really proud to be a part of your team to make New Jersey better," Guadagno said.

Although he isn't running for governor, Piscopo said, he will "be active" going forward.

Although Piscopo had been closely watched as a possible dark horse in the race, he faced long odds in actually reaching the State House as New Jersey's 56th governor. No independent has won the governorship, or even come very close. And Piscopo had little organization to indicate that he was mounting a serious effort.

For all the speculation, there was one hardened skeptic among Jersey politicos: Chris Christie. During a public event about an hour after Piscopo's announcement, Christie joked that he nearly had to be hospitalized upon learning that the stand-up comic who calls himself "Jersey Joe" would not make a bid for governor.

"This was about Joe Piscopo increasing ratings for his radio show and just trying to get himself more attention," Christie said. He called Piscopo a funny entertainer whom he likes personally, but that he should stay behind a microphone. "He never had any intention of running for governor — as a Republican, as an independent, as a Democrat, as a Martian — he had no idea at all about running for governor."

Piscopo's support may prove beneficial to Guadagno in a June 6 primary against Somerset County Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli. A Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday said that while Guadagno leads the race with 23 percent of voters to Ciattarelli's 12 percent, a majority of voters polled, 51 percent, are undecided. And although Ciattarelli is a distant second, he has gained ground on Guadagno, improving 9 percentage points from the university's last poll, in March, while she dropped five points.

Ciattarelli used the endorsement to draw a distinction between himself and Guadagno and Piscopo, noting how they have each made public comments diminishing the chances of the Republican Party in November's election. Piscopo told The Record in March, as he was weighing a gubernatorial run, that a Republican "probably won't win" the election. And Guadagno told Politico New Jersey last month that Republicans won't win the Legislature, either.

Ciattarelli said Guadagno and Piscopo are "perfect together."

"This announcement makes obvious just how much we need to go in a new direction. It also makes something else very obvious. As I connect more and more with rank-and-file Republican primary voters, the Lt. Governor continues to frantically search anywhere and everywhere for endorsements," Ciattarelli said in a statement.