page_title: David Zancai
section_title: Other appearances
hierarchical_section_title: David Zancai / Media appearances / Other appearances
caption_attribution_description: David "Zanta" Zancai
context_page_description: David Zancai was a street entertainer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Zancai was known for his character Zanta: a modified Santa Claus who travels the streets of downtown Toronto doing pushups and shouting "yes yes yes" and "Merry Christmess". His costume consisted of nothing but shorts, boots, and a red-and-white Santa hat, even during Toronto's winters. He claims to perform this routine every day of the year except Christmas Day, and estimates he does 2,000 to 3,000 pushups per day. In 2000, Zancai fell 25 feet onto a staircase while working as a painter. He entered treatment for schizophrenia at St. Joseph's hospital, having been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder earlier in 2003. Zancai has received mixed responses to his Zanta character, and has been banned from several public areas around Toronto, including the Toronto Transit Commission. He is known to verbally harass women while riding the TTC. His abuse includes verbally threatening, slut shaming and physically intimating woman who have not provoked him.
context_section_description: Zancai has attended several Christmas parades, pointing out that "Santa's at the back, while Zanta's at the front."
  Zancai guest-starred in Season 3, Episode 6 (Who Can Lift More Weight With Their Genitals) of Showcase Television's Kenny vs. Spenny as a replacement for Spencer Rice; Rice claimed he was suffering a nervous breakdown during the episode's production.
  Zanta has followed actress Penélope Cruz around Yorkville, trying to get in a photo during the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.  He finally was photographed with Cruz and Michael Keaton.
  Zanta is one of the many characters profiled in Jason Kieffer's comic book, "The Rabble of Downtown Toronto".
  Jason Kieffer created a short story for Taddle Creek Magazine's Christmas 2009 issue called "Why, Zanta?...Why?...";
  In July 2012 Jason Kieffer published a full graphic novel about Zanta, titled "Zanta The Living Legend"
caption: Zancai in his Zanta persona
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