Mr. Piscopo, 65, still managed to draw giggles from the $50,000-a-table crowd at the gala to help bring pandas to New York City. But his self-discipline is part of an effort to project a more sober image as he weighs his next move: trading in his Sinatra for a run for governor of his home state, New Jersey.

“I’m very serious about it,” he said. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”

While the daily whiplash out of Washington commands almost all the political attention, New Jersey is one of two states that will elect a new governor this year, as the eight-year reign of Gov. Chris Christie, once a national darling and now with historically low approval in his home state, comes to an end. And Mr. Piscopo is hoping to parlay his Jersey credentials and rising political profile — he campaigned for President Trump, and his radio show focuses on conservative politics — into a long-shot bid for governor as either a Republican or an independent in a state where Democratic voters vastly outnumber Republicans.

A recent poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University found that the category of “someone else” was within the margin of sampling error of equaling Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, the current leading Republican. Mr. Piscopo, who has not made an official announcement, trailed Ms. Guadagno and “someone else.”

“Joe Piscopo obviously goes into this with a whole lot of name recognition,” said Ashley Koning, the director at the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers. “Whether that turns into actual approval and support among New Jersey residents and New Jersey voters, that’s another story, but I think there’s a lot of ground that every candidate has to cover.”