Zanta
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David Zancai (commonly known as Zanta) is a street entertainer from Toronto, Ontario, in Canada. Zancai travels around the streets of downtown Toronto doing pushups for the amusement of passersby. While in character, Zancai wears nothing but shorts, boots, and a Santa hat, even during Toronto's harsh winters. He performs this routine every day of the year except on Christmas day. He estimates he does thousands of pushups per day.<ref name=sun>Burnett, Thane. "Zanta's claws pulled by a court", The Toronto Sun, 2005-11-07. Retrieved on 2006-07-25.</ref>
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[edit] The Life of Zanta
Formerly a contractor, Zancai spent 23 days in a coma and 17 days on life support following a serious work-related injury in 2000, in which he fell a distance of 25 feet before landing on his back.<ref name="G&M"> McLaren, Leah. "Meet Zanta Ho Ho", The Globe and Mail, 2006-04-30, pp. M1.</ref> <ref name=doc>Muckney Tipping, Pietro Gagliano. (2005). Zanta [Quicktime]. Toronto: robotomedia. </ref> He was able to rehabilitate himself to the point where he can do hundreds of pushups daily and maintain the physique of an amateur body builder, though he still suffers from loss of feeling in parts of his body.<ref name=doc/>
Zancai has since adopted the name "Zanta", (a combination of "Santa" and Zancai) and a distinct persona to match. A father of four, Zancai stated that "Zanta" originated when his daughter was taken out of his custody. When he appeared for a custody hearing he reportedly wore the Santa hat for her amusement.<ref name=sun/> At the hearing the judge requested that the hat be removed and, when Zancai refused, suggested a mental-competancy test be undertaken.<ref name=sun/> Zancai has stated that he is neither bipolar nor psychotic; instead he is merely in character.
[edit] Notoriety
Zancai's self-described "brash" act of doing pushups in thoroughfares and shouting "yes yes yes" has garnered him significant notoriety among Toronto's citizens. "Zanta sightings" are often the subject of posts on Toronto-based Internet forums and weblogs [1] [2].
Zancai was banned from the downtown core of Toronto in 2005 following a number of complaints filed by CHUM, owner of CityTV. The television station, which films live programming from their private studio against the backdrop of its public sidewalk Queen Street West-facing windows, was growing tired of capturing Zancai in almost every one of its newscasts, and some of its employees reportedly felt threatened or aggravated by Zancai's presence. Zancai's continued desire for fame and exposure resulted in at least one arrest on mischief charges.<ref name=sun/> On November 17, 2006, 680 news radio reported Zancai had been banned by the Toronto Transit Commission from the city's busses, subways, and subway stations.[citation needed]
A documentary film exploring Zancai's day-to-day life was created by graphic artists Muckney Tipping and Pietro Gagliano in October 2005. Another documentary film was more recently created by several students from Humber College. Both videos are available online.
Zancai guest starred in Episode 305 of Showcase Television's Kenny vs. Spenny as a replacement for Spencer Rice (who claimed he was suffering a nervous breakdown).
[edit] See also
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