SAM'S choice: Denver sportswriter Sam Adams makes a mid-life plunge into comedy.

• Author: Cote, Mike
• Position: COTE'S [Colorado]

Ask Sam Adams what advice he might give to young professionals, and he's quick to answer: Don't quit the day job. But what happens when the day job quits you?

Adams had to confront that question 18 months ago when his longtime employer, the Rocky Mountain News, surrendered the newspaper war to The Denver Post and ceased publishing. At the time, Adams was working full time as a sportswriter and honing his standup comedy skills on the side, performing at corporate events and doing short sets at Comedy Works.

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Now comedy alone pays the bills, and Adams has graduated to headliner status at Comedy Works, one of a handful of local comics who have earned that distinction. Adams is cued up to serve as emcee at the ColoradoBiz Gen XYZ young professionals event on Sept. 30 at Mile High Station.

"Being an entertainer is not easy," says Adams, 50. "I wish I had made this type of decision when I was in my mid-20s. It's funny, because I went from insurance clerk to sportswriter and sports columnist, and now sports columnist to comedian. You got to have a lot of energy. There are a lot of young kids who are out there trying to make it."

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Despite his late start--Adams was 41 when he performed comedy on stage for the first time--he has gained considerable ground, including top honors at the Great American Comedy Festival last year.

"It's been fun for me because one minute I was just an open mic'er, a guy who would come down to Comedy Works on a Tuesday night and try some things," Adams says during an interview at the company's Greenwood Village club. "And in just an amazing shift of less than 15 months, I went from open mic'er to regular here."

Adams can thank Sam Walton for inspiring one of his most colorful bits. We're talking colorful as in "caramel nut" or "papaya" - shades of paint that also match shades of skin. Adams visited Wal-Mart for the first time a couple of years ago while spending time in McCook, Neb., for a comedy gig and ended up lingering in the paint department.

"Being the silly guy that I am, I started looking at these colors. I got to the browns, and I put one up against my skin. This guy comes up, and asks me what I'm doing. I said 'I'm just checking my color.' I said...