Confessions of a Serial Failure | Eddie Tafoya | TEDxABQ

Albuquerque-born English professor, author and comedian Eddie Tafoya talks about a lifetime of messages telling people to strive for perfection. In his TEDxABQ talk, he argues that falling short and personal flaws may be what the world needs from people. Tafoya is known for his books on comedy and African American humor and for appearing in A&E's docuseries The Right to Offend.

• A personal look at growing up with messages about falling short of perfection
• An argument that human flaws may be valuable to others
• Speaker background: English professor, author and comedian from Albuquerque
• Presented at TEDxABQ, an independently organized TEDx event

Eddie Tafoya reframes a lifetime of falling short of perfection, making the case that our flaws are exactly what the world needs. Eddie Tafoya is an Albuquerque native, English professor, author, and comedian featured in A&E's docuseries The Right to Offend: A Look at African American Comedy. His books include The Legacy of the Wisecrack, Icons of African American Comedy, and the novel Finding the Buddha, with The Marxist Revolution: How Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo Changed the Way We Laugh releasing in 2027. In his talk, Eddie takes on a lifetime of messages about falling short of perfection — and makes an unexpected case for why our flaws might be exactly what the world needs from us. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx