That other online Daly Show - starring Tim Daly

STUDIO CITY, Calif. — You know actor Tim Daly from TV series like CBS' Madam Secretary and NBC's Wings.

But have you caught him on the Daly Show? Not Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, but DalyShowTV, the YouTube comedy parody series he does with his son Sam? In a recent interview at CBS offices here, Daly told us about the homegrown video project, why he addresses his Twitter audience as "humans" and about his favorite subway app.

DALY SHOW TV

The comedy segments — shot in his home, backyard or back lots of TV series — are produced by friend Ben Shelton and feature the Twitter hashtag #Alittlelessdouche" prominently. Veteran actress Betty White even recited it in a bit they recorded when Daly was guest-starring on her TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland. Daly is produced with a Canon 5D Mark III camera and goodwill from his fellow actors, who have included Superman Returns' Brandon Routh, Castle's Nathan Fillion and Glee's Chris Colfer. "We have a great time. We don't have to answer to anyone; the budget is low two-figures per episode; we can make them whatever we want," Daly says. The videos have received nearly 750,000 views to date.

SNOOPING

On the Madam Secretary series, which airs Sundays, Daly plays the secretary of State's husband, who works with the National Security Agency. His thoughts on government snooping? Should the NSA be eliminated? "I don't think so. I think information is something we need," he says. "It's just a question of how we gather it, and can we do it in a way that's palatable and hopefully legal."

As an Internet user, though, "I don't think I take enough precautions," he says. But he doesn't get worried out backing up to the cloud. "It's so funny they call it the cloud. We think it's this benign puffy thing floating by in the sky. Meanwhile, it's a huge, powerful drinking machine that's just thumping away. And how far away is the cloud from Skynet (from the Terminator movies)? We are maybe heading in that direction, but I think that if anyone wanted to get you and took all that stuff online out of context, pretty much anyone can get in a lot of trouble."

HUMANS

Daly refers to his followers as "humans" in his tweets. As in "Humans! Did you know you could watch Madam Secretary on iTunes?"

What's with the human references?

"I was filling out forms, and I got tired of saying Caucasian or white, so I clicked other and filled in human," he says. "I am a member of the human race. There's a certain irony about the cyberworld. You don't know who is talking to you, if it's a machine, so I tend to try to reach out to those fellow humans."

GEAR

Daly has an iMac desktop computer, uses an iPhone, and owns the Canon 5D. His favorite camera of late is the Sony NEX-7, a 24-megapixel compact camera that initially sold for about $1,000 but has since been discontinued by Sony and replaced by the A6000 camera. "It was amazing. I took it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. It got frozen and I dropped it, but it still took beautiful pictures," he says.

BLACK FRIDAY WISHLIST

"I'm due for a massive computer upgrade, like across the board, but that can be very pricey," Daly says.

He's a die-hard Apple fanboy. "I appreciate all the devices the Windows people are coming up with, but the operating system ... I just want to smash it."

FAVORITE APP: HopStop

"I use HopStop (free, Apple devices) a lot in New York (where Secretary is filmed)" for checking subway routes. "Speaking of humans, I love getting on the subway because you get on the car and you see the entire human race represented in any given subway car," he says.

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