Andy Nibley: Entrepreneur, comedian and now Off Broadway actor

Life really is stranger than fiction says Andy Nibley, former correspondent, editor and serial entrepreneur.

After a two-decade Reuters career culminating as president, Reuters NewMedia, in 1999 he went into the music business for a few years (“briefly making me popular with my children”) and then spent seven years running an advertising/digital marketing agency.

“All in all, over the past 20 years, I have been a CEO in four different industries. But this past year, my career took one of the strangest twists yet and I have to say, I'm loving it,” he says.

“I decided to retire from advertising and devote myself full-time to finishing up a documentary that my wife and I have been working on for the past year and a half. It's about America's seedy and lucrative puppy mill industry where millions of dogs are kept in tiny, unsanitary cages churning out litter after litter of puppies for pet stores. Most Americans have no idea they are buying puppy mill dogs when they go to a pet store, and don't realise that there is a 50 per cent chance the dog will die or have a serious illness in the first year after purchase.”

While all of this was going on, some other unexpected entertainment enterprises presented themselves. “My wife Kelly signed me up to take a comedy course, which I reluctantly did. Well, things went better than expected. I ended up getting a couple of shows and one of my friends put a clip up on YouTube.

“Comedian Jackie Mason's daughter Sheba discovered me on YouTube and is now my agent, booking me into one or two New York nightclubs a week. Weird.

“Weirder still. I got a call recently from a former colleague who said her sister had written an Off Broadway play about a burnt out college professor who had just retired and couldn't figure out why his wife was so mad at him all the time. She thought I would be perfect for the part. As a lark, I auditioned and lo and behold, got the job. I debut on 14 August in a play called Chrysalis.

“Weirdest of all, I have also been approached to host a cable television show about comics in the kitchen and have made it to the finals to be CEO of a famous film festival. 

“I'm not sure how I wandered off onto this entertainment expressway, but I'm having fun, and am immensely grateful to all the Reuterians who suffered through my impromptu comedic and theatrical performances during my Baron days. Thank you for your support and encouragement!” ■