Pretending to climb a wall at WHO's photo shoot, Merrick Watts concedes he has relied on "childish" humour to successfully scale something else - the Australian comedy ladder. Since starting out with long-time colleague Tim Ross in stand-up in the mid-1990s, Watts has become a sought-after actor (he co-starred in ABC-TV's critically acclaimed The Hollowmen last year) and breakfast radio host at Sydney's Nova 969. As he says, "I have no issue with looking like an idiot."

But he is about to add a new and challenging character to his repertoire - family man. "Georgie said the other day, 'I've already got one child, now I'm going to have two,'" says Watts, quoting his wife of three years, former PR manager Georgie Sulzberger, 30, who is due to give birth to the couple's first child on June 13. "I actually think I'll get in tune with fatherhood. I think it will really suit me - but God help us all if it's anything like me."

Becoming a father will be the personal highlight of the year for Watts, 35, but he is also having a bumper time professionally. In addition to producing and starring in his and Ross's brainchild The Merrick & Rosso Show (now in its second series on Foxtel's Comedy Channel), he played a drug lord in hit drama Underbelly and will tap into his quick wit for the April 29 season debut of Seven's Thank God You're Here - not to mention delivering daily live radio alongside Ross, 38, and actress Kate Ritchie, 30.

"There are definitely going to be changes coming in my life," he says. While becoming a father may not encourage Watts, who grew up in Melbourne "obsessed" with the UK comedy Blackadder and US comedian Chevy Chase, to retire his immature tendencies, his friends insist he is up to the multitasking. "Merrick is very old-fashioned in a lot of ways," says Ross, his on-air partner for 12 years and business colleague since 2007, when the duo set up a production company, Smoke and Mirrors. "There's so much of his dad, Terry, in him - they had a very close relationship - and I think Merrick's looking forward to instilling those same qualities in his own child. He'll be a terrific father."

The 2007 death of Watts's advertising-executive father has reinforced the importance of family for the self-confessed "man of routine." While his schedule combines morning radio with afternoon TV brainstorming and tapings - Watts recently set a personal record of 60 hours of back-to-back work in three days - he concedes he is "cramming." He explains, "I like learning new things. That's what Underbelly was - I felt out of my depth the whole time. But once our child is born, I want to consolidate on my family, and pull it all back for a while. It's very important to me to be there for my family, to be there for Georgie."

The couple lead a quiet life at weekends, preferring to "stay in and hang out" at their home in Sydney's Inner West. An ideal Saturday for Watts, a fan of AFL team Collingwood, includes "sleeping in, going for a run, then home in time for a big bowl of lasagne and the footy." Clearly besotted with his wife, Watts says: "Georgie and I are happiest when it's just us."

Still, aspirations beyond fatherhood persist for Watts, whose dream is to produce and star in comedy films. "His personal ambition will take him wherever he wants to go," says Ross. "And knowing Mez, it'll be pretty large."

By Sarah Grant