I grew up with three generations under one roof. My mother's parents used to live in a smaller house, then my dad – who was a GP – had an opportunity to start his own practice. This old, rambling house became available and my grandfather, who was a stonemason and builder, built an extension. The plan was that the practice would be at one end and my grandparents would temporarily live at the other end. But the reality was that my grandfather loved to hold court so he'd be at the dining table every afternoon when I came back from school and the arrangement became permanent.
My grandparents used to debrief me when I got home from school. My dad didn't have time as he was working so when I got in I'd have to prepare this kind of report on the day. Now I've noticed with my own son, it's something I've found myself doing. But when I ask he generally answers, "I dunno," whereas when my father asks him he'll give a full report.
My grandfather had strong opinions. He was an argumentative character and quite staunchly socialist. He loved to rant and rail about Thatcher, which was very entertaining. He imparted to me a kind of curiosity and increasingly a fascination and love of discussion and debate, which I suppose you can see in my shows today.
My dad was probably less engaged politically but he was very well read, very kind and gentle, and still is. He has a very wide interest in a lot of subjects including classical music, literature and the natural world, all of which I have inherited. My mother was a classic matriarchal figure. She'd sing round the house and always had music on.
I was an only child but I never longed for a sibling. It just didn't occur to me. To me, this was how it was and I just sort of got on with it. I was very close to my older cousin, who I used to perform Christmas puppet shows with, so we kind of hung around like siblings.
When my son Dax was a few weeks old he would be sitting in his buggy watching me from the wings performing and then gradually as the years have gone on he's ended up coming on stage. He went out at the O2 in front of about 14,000 people and took a bow and sung a song with absolutely no fear whatsoever. The crowd loved it and were shouting, "Get the kid back on!"
Contrary to popular belief, Dax is not named after a Star Trek character. The name came from a friend of ours who married an Indonesian man. They had a son called Dax and we just always associated it with being in Indonesia and always said, "If ever we have a child, that'll be in the running." At the same time I'd rather lost track of the various Star Trek spin-offs and was completely unaware that Dax was also the name of a character in Deep Space Nine until someone told me.
Family helps you make clearer choices about things. Your priorities become clearer. Your obligations become clearer, and that is something I welcome. I don't resist it. I like the fact that you have a responsibility and that that responsibility somehow helps the work because you think "I actually have to get on and do this," and that necessity is not in any way an obstacle to creativity, and sometimes it's the reverse. The discipline of necessity is a very good creative spur.
Baboons with Bill Bailey is out now on DVD. His next UK tour is in November