Hand holding iPhone displaying received text messages: 'How's your dad doing?' and 'What's up with the clippers?

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 29-year-old Pete Ballmer, a standup comedian living in San Francisco and one of the sons of billionaire and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When I meet people, they usually don't know that my dad is Steve Ballmer.