A Debut Thriller Written by WNYC Host Tiffany Hanssen!

Summary

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Podcast Summary: All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: A Debut Thriller Written by WNYC Host Tiffany Hansen!
Air Date: May 12, 2026
Guest: Tiffany Hansen, WNYC Host and Author of My Name Was Jerry Sass

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Episode Overview

This episode spotlights the debut novel My Name Was Jerry Sass by WNYC's own Tiffany Hansen. Host Alison Stewart dives into the inspiration, process, and characters behind the darkly comic thriller, while exploring Hansen's transition from radio journalism to fiction writing. Their conversation touches on themes of identity, grief, fatherhood, faith, and the playful art of storytelling.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of the Novel and Author’s Journey

• Transition from Journalist to Novelist:
  Tiffany Hansen shares that writing was a long-standing part of her life, but she never truly set out to become “a novelist.” The story simply demanded to be told.

  "I don't think I ever thought of myself as a novelist...I've always been writing...it was more just the story came together in such a way that I thought, this is pretty good. I might as well. Maybe I'll, like, see if somebody else likes it." (01:25 – 02:10)

• Rooted in Personal History:
  Hansen reveals Jerry Sass is a “very loosely fictionalized” version of her estranged father, whom she investigated during the pandemic. Her search via Ancestry.com even uncovered unexpected half-siblings.

  "My running joke is I grew up an only child. I'm now the youngest of five." (02:12 – 03:41) She admits her father was "not a good dude," though she won’t confirm (or deny) if he was truly a hitman.

2. Finding Character Voices and Inspiration

• Channeling Jerry:
  Hansen enjoyed imagining Jerry’s voice, confidently claiming:

  "I am very fluent at speaking man." (03:45 – 04:16)
  Once his motives crystallized, his gravelly tone and attitude followed naturally.

• Complicated Morality:
  Jerry’s time in purgatory invites the reader to wrestle with imperfect lives and the question of remorse.

  "I'm not sure that's the case for Jerry. I think there's a part of him that thinks that he did the best that he could, by God, and...nobody should be condemned for that." (04:28 – 05:23)

3. Exploring Early Sass and Family Dynamics

• Early as a Character:
  Early, Jerry’s daughter (and not a direct self-insert for Hansen), is introduced tending chickens—rooted, tough, and unapologetic, inspired partially by one of Hansen’s half-sisters.

  "She's really maybe my alter ego. What I would have loved to have been like...she's a little bit of my half sister who's a firecracker." (05:38 – 06:33)

• Father-Daughter Bond:
  The relationship is layered with longing and fantasy.

  "She’s his little bird." (06:33 – 07:24)

• On Grief and Revenge:
  Early channels her grief into a ruthless pursuit of justice, demonstrating how loss can sharpen purpose:

  "She is 100% driven by revenge because of that grief...it activates her in a way that is, like you say, a little bit surprising." (07:32 – 08:52)

4. The Role of Father Dan

• Based on a real friend (though highly fictionalized), Father Dan represents the desire to be seen as a full person, not just a priest.

  "What is so interesting to me about the real Father Dan is this notion that people don't treat him as a person. They treat him as a priest...Jerry gives him that feeling of being seen as a human being." (08:56 – 10:18)

5. Character Naming and Writing Process

• Naming “Early”:
  Sometimes, inspiration for names is mysterious, arriving without clear rationale.

  "I have no idea. I mean, that really was one of those moments where it just kind of came to me." (10:18 – 11:12)

• Balancing Action and Reflection:
  Hansen discusses keeping the pace tight and avoiding excess, ensuring the story’s emotional currents carry as much weight as the car chases.

  "If you want a book that’s fun to read and like, stuff happens and things explode and people get killed, that's this book. And also...it's about grief...and a man who's going through a crisis of faith." (11:32 – 12:28)

6. The Practicalities of Writing

• Fitting Writing Into Full-Time Work:
  Writing became a healthy alternative to doomscrolling or mindless TV.

  "For me, it’s entertainment. For me, it’s a way to unplug… instead of watching veep for the 10,000th time...I do this. I do this." (12:32 – 12:59)

• Advice to Aspiring Novelists:
  Finishing, not just starting, is the hardest—and most essential—part.

  "Then finish it. Finish it. We can all start something, but so few of us follow through and finish. And, and, and if you don't, then it won’t ever go anywhere." (13:07 – 13:40)

• On Completion and Editing:
  The sense of achievement was immense—until the editing waves arrived.

  "I did a thing. I did a thing. I mean, that's kind of crazy...until you get in to the 75 rounds of edits." (13:44 – 14:09)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "He’s not Daddy Warbucks, but...she’s his little bird." — Tiffany Hansen (06:33 – 07:24)
• "She is 100% driven by revenge because of that grief." — Tiffany Hansen (07:32 – 08:52)
• "He's a guy, you know, he'll go out and have a beer with me...everybody just longs to be seen as a human being." — Tiffany Hansen on Father Dan (09:45 – 10:18)
• "The thing you have to do is finish it. Just finish it." — Tiffany Hansen’s advice to writers (13:07 – 13:40)
• "I felt such a huge relief, like I...did a thing. I wrote a book." — Tiffany Hansen (13:44 – 14:09)

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Important Timestamps

• Introduction & Book Synopsis: 00:29 – 01:21
• Becoming a Novelist/Book’s Genesis: 01:22 – 03:41
• Character Voice & Morality: 03:41 – 05:23
• Early Sass & Family Dynamics: 05:23 – 07:24
• Exploring Grief & Motivation: 07:24 – 08:52
• Father Dan’s Character: 08:52 – 10:18
• Naming and Process: 10:18 – 11:12
• Action vs. Reflection: 11:12 – 12:28
• Balancing Writing with a Career: 12:28 – 12:59
• Advice to Aspiring Writers: 12:59 – 13:40
• Sense of Accomplishment: 13:40 – 14:09
• Closing Remarks & Bookstore Event: 14:09 – 14:27

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Tone & Style

The conversation is warm, candid, and humorous—full of self-aware asides and mutual admiration, reflecting both Hansen’s comfort as a radio personality and her emerging voice as a novelist. The episode is approachable and insightful, perfect for both literary fans and would-be writers seeking a backstage glimpse into creative process and transformation.

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My Name Was Jerry Sass is out now. Tiffany Hansen will appear at The Mysterious Bookshop on May 20 (6pm), joined by Alison Stewart.

Transcript

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[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Many of you know the voice of WNYC's Tiffany Hansen. But did you know that lurking beneath the dulcet tones of the public radio journalist was a novelist? Hanson's debut book, My Name Was Jerry Sass comes out today. In the book, we learn that Jerry Sasse was involved in crime. Not the disorganized kind, if you catch my drift. Early on in the story, Jerry gets axed by some bad dudes and it was witnessed by his friend Dan, Father Dan. When Jerry's daughter is told of his demise, she becomes hell bent on revenge. As for Jerry, well, he's in purgatory and has to deal with his life choices. Publishers Weekly called the book, quote, a knockout. My Name Was Jerry Sass is out now. Tiffany will be at the mysterious bookstore on May 20 at 6pm and Tiffany Hansen joins me in studio. First of all, congratulations.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Alison Stewart]

When did you know you wanted to be a novelist?

[Tiffany Hansen]

I don't think I ever thought of myself as a novelist or that I maybe even still think of myself as a novelist. I've always been writing. I think writer's always going to write and, you know, a good product of the liberal arts education that I am, always thinking creatively, always writing things down, writing stories that, you know, no one should ever see. And so I don't think it was ever a case of, know, I'm going to do this thing. It was more just the story came together in such a way that I thought, this is pretty good. I might as well. Maybe I'll, like, see if somebody else likes it. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

How did Jerry Sass come to you?

[Tiffany Hansen]

Yeah. So Jerry Sass is a very loosely fictionalized version of my father. My father is someone who I did not grow up with. I did not know. And during the pandemic, I, you know, did. We all had time on our hands and I thought it would be a good idea to just see what I could find out about the guy. Couldn't find out very much about him. And so my husband suggested that I do the Ancestry.com DNA test thing. Found a couple of half siblings that I didn't know. I had my Joke. My running joke is I grew up an only child. I'm now the youngest of five. So Jerry was. Jerry was an interesting character. So I found out a lot about him from my half siblings. And obviously, if I'm saying that this is sort of a loose fictionalization of him, he wasn't a great dude. I'm not gonna say he was a hitman for sure. I'm not gonna say he wasn't. But he. We can all agree that he was not a good dude. And so it really just came from finding out these little tidbits about him. And, you know, not having grown up with him, I was always making up stories about him anyway. And so this just sort of seemed like, you know, the natural progression, I guess.

[Alison Stewart]

How did his voice come to you?

[Tiffany Hansen]

Well, I. You know, Alison, I am very fluent at speaking man. I've grown up in a man's world. I'm very fluent in it. And I think for me, it was a voice that was just. It was fun more than anything. It wasn't that I thought too much about what his personality would sound like once I kind of knew where he was coming from. His voice really followed pretty easily.

[Alison Stewart]

Jerry talks to us from purgatory. We learn about his life. And you write Jerry's highlight reel was not at all a comfort to him. What did you want the reader to sort of understand about Jerry?

[Tiffany Hansen]

You know, I think that there's a notion that especially when someone is a position of having to review their life, that they will come to terms with the things that they did wrong or could have done better or in situations where they could have been better, and that they will say they will come to some remorse for that or regret for that. I'm not sure that's the case for Jerry. I think there's a part of him that thinks that he did the best that he could, by God, and. And. And nobody should be condemned for that, and no one should be condemned for that. And so I think his is a story of how do we treat people who feel that they are just doing the best that they can do with the hand that they've been dealt.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Tiffany Hansen, who has written her debut novel about a hitman who gets killed in the cascade of events that happened because of it. The book is called My Name Was Jerry Sass. It's out to today Early. Sass is his daughter? Yep. Where do we meet her? When we first meet her?

[Tiffany Hansen]

In the book, we first meet her when she gets up and she's going to check on her chickens in her chicken coop. And she, you know, Jerry is gone for the day. She presumes, you know, she's. She's. She's actually a little bit more. I know a lot of people think that I'm supposed to, like. Right. The natural thing is like, oh, if this is your dad, then this must be you. No, it's. She's really maybe my alter ego. What I would have loved to have been like, she's a little bit of my half sister who's a firecracker. So she. We meet her when she is still believing that her father is alive, and we see her eventually come to terms with his death in a way that is very. Jerry sass. That is very much in a way that he taught her to be, which is unapologetic.

[Alison Stewart]

What would you describe? There's their relationship.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Oh, he loves her. He dotes on her. He. She is, you know, and I wonder, you know, let's psychoanalyze me. I. I think I would have loved that. I use. Part of those stories I used to tell about my dad was that he was some kind of Daddy Warbugs figure who, like, lived in this big mansion on a. On. On the cliffs, you know, overlooking the Pacific Ocean in California somewhere. And he was going to just like, swoop in and I was going to be like, I don't know, doing what in this mansion? What I was going to be doing, you know. But she. He takes care of her in that. In that way. In. In his way, of course, and in a way that is sort of, you know, he's not Daddy Warbucks, but he. But he has that, you know, she's his little bird. She's his little bird.

[Alison Stewart]

Early experiences grief in some ways that people might find odd. What does grief do to her?

[Tiffany Hansen]

It focuses her. She is 100% driven by revenge because of that grief. And I think in a way that Jerry instilled in her that no holds barred, don't take any from anybody way about her. And it activates her in a way that is, like you say, a little bit surprising. But to your point, I think grief is so different for everyone. And there's truth to that. You know, that everybody's journey is different when confronted with grief. And she does confront it eventually. You know, she has her breakdown, she has her moment, she. Moments. She has her moments. But I think it's a. It's a personal journey that maybe not everyone can relate to in terms of, you know, nobody's going to start packing a Colt and hitting the road. And taking off after some bad guys when they are overcome with a wash of grief. But you might like to.

[Alison Stewart]

Father Dan is a third person we meet. Who is Father Dan.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Father Dan is also a real person, believe it or not. Yeah, he. I. Because I am a lapsed Catholic, I can. I call him not my priest. I call him a friend, which is probably more accurate. He's. He. I will. I should preface this by saying he's a real person, but he's not at all like the Father Dan in the book, who is very much not priestly like in his behavior as well. But so he came to me because I love my friend Father Dan so much that he really came out of that love. And I wanted to have. What is so interesting to me about the real Father Dan is this notion that people don't treat him as a person. They treat him as a priest.

[Alison Stewart]

They treat his collar, right?

[Tiffany Hansen]

They treat his collar. You know, he. He's a guy, you know, he. He'll go out and have a beer with me and he, like everybody just longs to be seen as a human being. And I think that the Dan in the book is very similar to that. He just. And this is what Jerry gives him. Jerry gives him that feeling of being seen as a human being. And that's why Jerry's death hits him so hard.

[Alison Stewart]

So we know what you got Jerry from and where you got Dan from. How did you decide on calling her early?

[Tiffany Hansen]

You know, I have no idea. I mean, that really was one of those moments where it just kind of came to me. And I think that this is why I think I think about this in our position. Sometimes when we ask people about Process, we ask them about writing a book or writing, you know, what it's like to write a Tony Award winning musical. Right? And I think. I don't know how I would answer that because process is such a weird, amorphous, mystical experience of stuff. Just comes to you in the shower in the middle of the night when I wake up in the morning. And I think, oh, this is what I need to do. And so the answer sometimes for those questions is, ah,

[Alison Stewart]

well, it's interesting because you talk about process. This book, it's sort of a caper as well. Your characters go through it, car chases and there's bars. First of all, how did you know enough was enough? Because it could have been all car chases, it could have been all bar fights. When did you know was a time like, I need to pull back here?

[Tiffany Hansen]

You know, it was. This is an interesting thing where you try to balance that propulsive nature. Right. This is the propulsion of the book. I say that there's kind of two, two ways to look at it. Look, if you want a book that's fun to read and like, stuff happens and things explode and people get killed, that's this book. And also. Right, and also it's that grief you were talking about. And also it's about a man who's going through a crisis of faith. And it's sort of just a reflection of kind of who I am. And I think most people are like that. We're not all one thing. We're not all, you know, me and Allison driving down the road at 100 miles an hour, we'll do it. But we also do other stuff, you know, so it's just a, it's. It feels like a natural balance to me.

[Alison Stewart]

You have a full time job here.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Yeah, I do.

[Progressive Insurance Announcer]

How did you find time to write?

[Tiffany Hansen]

You know, it's for me, it's entertainment. For me, it's a. It's a way to unplug. It's a way to, you know, instead of doom scrolling, instead of watching veep for the 10,000th time, instead of watching, you know, something I don't even care about on television, I do this. I do this. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

What advice would you give to someone who's listening, who thinks they have this novel in them, it's somewhere bubbling inside of them. What would you tell them to. How to start.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Yeah, do it. I mean, the. Somebody once said to me, the thing you have to do is finish it. Just finish it. I know. I can't tell you how many people have come up to me and said, I have this book. I started and I have a page done. I have two chapters done. I have this done, I have that. And my, my response is always, then finish it. Finish it. We can all start something, but so few of us follow through and finish. And, and, and if you don't, then it won't ever go anywhere.

[Alison Stewart]

What did it feel like when you finished it?

[Tiffany Hansen]

You know, I felt such a huge relief, like I. I did a thing. I did a thing. I mean, that's kind of crazy, Alison. I did a thing. I wrote a book like what I. And so I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment until you get in to the 75 rounds of edits.

[Alison Stewart]

That's another story.

[Tiffany Hansen]

And then it's like, okay, wait, I'm not done.

[Alison Stewart]

Apparently the name of the book is My name was Jerry Sass. It is by Tiffany Hanson. Tiffany will be at the mysterious book store on May 20th at 6pm and I will be joining you. Yeah. Thank you for coming in. Well, I guess you were here, but, you know.

[Tiffany Hansen]

I know, but it was still fun.

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[Tiffany Hansen]

Hey, everyone. Check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Liberty Mutual Announcer]

Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent.

[Alison Stewart]

Liberty. Liberty.

[Tiffany Hansen]

Liberty.

[Alison Stewart]

Liberty.

[Maggie Smith]

Hi, I'm Maggie Smith, poet and host of the Slowdown. Each weekday I share a poem and a moment of reflection, helping you turn listening into a daily ritual. It's five minutes to slow down, pay attention, and begin the day with intention. Find it in your favorite podcast app and make the Slowdown your new daily poetry practice.