David Cross, now 60, doesn't mind being an older dad with a 7-year-old

Actor, quirky raconteur and stand-up comic David Cross, who crossed the 60-year mark this past spring, joked earlier this year on his comedy special "The Worst Daddy in the World" about being an older dad surrounded by insufferable younger hipster fathers in Brooklyn, N.Y.But the "Arrested Development" alum, who grew up in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, Ga., is truly enjoying his time raising his 7-year-old daughter, Marlow, with his actor wife, Amber Tamblyn."I'm physically fit," Cross said in a phone interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I'm able to do everything I need to do with her. I'm not like, 'Slow down! Daddy's knees!' Every age represents its own achievements and delights. I'm loving that she's very slowly starting to get into sports. She's getting into baseball cards. It's heartwarming for me."Cross is currently on a 50-city stand-up comedy tour. He spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from an airport in Madison, Wis., on his way to Minneapolis. Both shows, he noted, are sold out.The new show, he said, "for no concerted reason," won't be as heavy on religion and politics as past ones. Nonetheless, expect an eclectic mix of storytelling, dry observational humor and social commentary."He's no different onstage than he is offstage," said his sister Wendy Cross, who still lives in Atlanta. "He is unapologetic in his opinions."She said her brother works hard to be a present dad for Marlow because his father abandoned them when they were children. "He is hyperaware what not to do," Wendy Cross said.David Cross said Marlow is now at an age where she understands that he makes a living cracking jokes so she herself has begun following in his footsteps. "She is starting to appreciate being funny, which is kind of nice," he said. "She wrote a bunch of jokes in the car while we were driving upstate. We were at a restaurant and she walked over to strangers and told jokes. It was cool."Cross said he was not nearly as extroverted as his daughter is when he was her age. "We moved around a lot," he said. "I was always the new kid. I didn't like growing up in Roswell (in the late 1970s and early 1980s). I was picked on a lot. There was a lot of dumb antisemitism and racism I had to deal with."When Cross comes to town now, he stays with his sister, who lives in a quiet cul-de-sac. When Cross told Marlow he was going on tour in Europe next year and wanted to take her to see London for the first time during spring break, Marlow demurred and said she'd rather stay with her aunt Wendy."In Brooklyn, Marlow can't just go outside and play," Wendy Cross said. "Here, she can knock on some doors and find kids to play with. She has the time of her life."While David Cross has complained about aspects of Atlanta over the years in interviews with the AJC, he said he has come to terms with its strengths and weaknesses."There's no kind of centrality to it," he said. "There's a reason I moved away. There's a reason I live in New York. The fact you have to drive everywhere is annoying. I do love the Beltline. I love getting on a bike and riding around. That's what I do in my neighborhoods in New York. People are nice in Atlanta. There's good food. I don't hate it."His sister said Cross hates surprises but she gave him a surprise 60th-birthday party anyway in Brooklyn in April with 150 of his family and friends. His drama teacher from Northside School of Performing Arts, the now-defunct Atlanta school, flew in, along with many of the cast of his HBO sketch comedy show "Mr. Show," such as Bob Odenkirk and Brian Posehn, and buddies such as Fred Armisen and Janeane Garofalo. H. Jon Benjamin ("Archer") hired an opera singer to croon "Take Me Out to the Ballgame.""It took about seven seconds for him to go from completely pissed to, 'Oh my God! This is the story of my life!'" she said.