Because all it takes to be a politician these days is a half-baked idea that maybe you should be a politician, former Saturday Night Live star Joe Piscopo is reportedly considering a run for Governor of New Jersey.
“I’m very serious about it,” Piscopo told the New York Times. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”
A four year veteran of SNL, Piscopo was on the cast from 1980 to 1984; it was a rocky time, as producer Jean Doumanian was replaced with Dick Ebersol, who replaced the entire cast — except Piscopo and another young standout, Eddie Murphy. Piscopo played Reagan, Sinatra, Andy Rooney, Jerry Lewis, and other opinionated old men; in recent years, he’s become one himself, hosting NYC radio show “Piscopo in the Morning” and, last year, campaigning for Donald Trump.
A longtime New Jersey resident, Piscopo has a lot of love for his home state – and a good sense of humor about his aspirations. “I got so many kids, my joke is, in Jersey, I have a child at every exit,” he joked to the Times. “So it’s like, jeez, I got to make sure I can afford to do this.”
While we’re not sure about his politics, we couldn’t agree more with his opinion on satire: “All is fair game in comedy when mocking people in power,” he told the Daily Beast. His tip to pal Donald? “Invite Alec Baldwin to the White House… Trump needs to have a sense of humor about SNL and doing that would make it clear he does.”
While he hasn’t embarked on an official campaign, or even begun any preliminary research, Piscopo is developing a basic platform (that includes the goal of making Atlantic City “the film capital of the Northeast”) and would reportedly run as an Independent, with the hope of scoring high-profile endorsements from pals like Eddie Murphy and Dave Chappelle.
Piscopo’s potential run would put him in the seat being vacated by current Gov. Chris Christie, whose eight-year term is ending.
