A PEEK INTO THE PSYCHE OF A BUCK BUSTER

Clark Howard is as happy and enthusiastic in real life as he appears to be on TV.

Just thought I’d get that out of the way right off the bat since people always ask, “Is he really like that?” when they find out I interviewed a celebrity.

I’m happy to report that Clark Howard, is indeed, the real deal.

No subjects were off limits during the 90 minutes we spent together; he freely answered questions about his cheapness, his political aspirations, failure of his parents to save money, his father being fired and his father’s death. He even discussed viewers and listeners who think he stinks.

I left Howard’s $4 million Atlanta home feeling like I’d visited with an old friend.

Still, a tiny part of my brain (or do I mean a part of my tiny brain?) wondered if I’d witnessed a performance.

That itsy voice has since been silenced by the fabulous photo fiasco.

We planned to use an image from ClarkHoward.com on our cover, but the photo of Clark stretching a dollar didn’t have enough resolution, bytes, pixels or some such thing.

So we asked Clark’s people to send us the original. Unfortunately, they couldn’t locate it.

So Clark’s ultra-efficient assistant Kate Moore emailed us a batch of wonderful photos.

The photos were okay … but … we really, really wanted the shot of dollar-stretching Clark. Sorry Kate.

I expected her to suggest that I jump in a lake. Instead, she promised to rush over to the studio and take some quick shots of Clark before he headed to the airport for a trip out of the country.

A day later, we had our photo. Or so we thought. Kate hadn’t had time to retrieve her professional camera gear. The photos Clark graciously posed for were not cover quality.

When I told Kate, I expected her to say, “Well, at least we tried.” Instead, she promised to take high-quality shots when Clark returned. I was flabbergasted. Clark would agree to a second inconvenience? My experience with celebrities is that you don’t ask them to do something twice.

Pen runs out of ink while they’re signing an autograph? Tough. Camera flash doesn’t go off? Too bad. Can’t wait for your camera to recharge, gotta go.

So yes, I’m pretty sure Clark Howard is the real deal. Our cover is proof he doesn’t consider himself more important than people he lives to help.

Gary Corsair Executive Editor