Fanum

Roberto Bryan Escanio Pena was born on August 22, 1997, in The Bronx, New York City, to parents from the Dominican Republic. Raised in a bilingual Dominican-American household alongside his younger brother, Wayne Jr., his upbringing in New York strongly influenced his comedic style and online persona. He attended the Bronx Early College Academy before enrolling at the New York City College of Technology. While in college, limited financial resources forced him to photograph textbooks with his phone for coursework; after the phone broke and could not be repaired, he left the institution to work and fund equipment for video production.

He launched his initial YouTube activity under channels like Fanum Live and JustFanum, initially focusing on NBA 2K gaming streams before expanding to real-life vlogs, storytime videos, and explorations of New York City deli foods. In November 2016, he began streaming on Twitch, building an audience through a mixture of Grand Theft Auto Online roleplay, Just Chatting sessions, and reaction content.

Fanum is an original founding member of the content group Any Means Possible (AMP). The collective originated around late 2019 and early 2020 after Fanum, Agent 00, and ImDavisss revised an initial plan to launch a shared creator house in Los Angeles, shifting instead toward collaborative challenge and lifestyle formats. The group subsequently brought in Duke Dennis, editor-turned-creator ChrisNxtDoor, and Kai Cenat, whom Fanum invited after noting Cenat's rising profile in New York content creation.

Within AMP, Fanum regularly participates in large-scale group challenges, gaming sessions, and sports competitions. His collaborative work extends to broader media appearances, including featuring alongside Cenat in the music video for Offset's 2023 track "Fan." In August 2023, a public giveaway event hosted by Cenat and Fanum in Union Square Park drew thousands of attendees and led to widespread disruption; while Cenat was charged with inciting a riot, no charges were filed against Fanum.

Fanum became widely recognized in mainstream internet culture for coining the term "Fanum tax," a humorous phrase denoting the act of taking a share of a friend's food during live broadcasts. The practice originated as an inside joke on his livestreams, particularly during broadcasts where he took snacks and cookies from fellow AMP member Kai Cenat. Fanum defined the concept as playfully claiming a 5% to 20% cut of a friend's meal.

The phrase rapidly evolved into a defining piece of Gen Alpha and Gen Z online slang. In late 2023, it gained international virality when integrated into parody songs and TikTok trends such as "Sticking Out Your Gyat for the Rizzler," which accumulated hundreds of millions of views across social media platforms.

Outside of regular streaming, Fanum has participated in international creator competitions and philanthropic sports events. In June 2024, he competed in the Sidemen-produced reality game show Inside, spending seven days in the competition house and finishing in fourth place. He later joined the presenting lineup for Inside: USA in 2025.

Fanum has also appeared in several major charity soccer fixtures. In June 2024, he represented AMP in a charity match against Beta Squad at Selhurst Park in London in support of The Water Project. He played for the AboFlah & KSI team in the Match for Hope at Doha, Qatar, in February 2025, which raised over $10.7 million. In March 2025, he featured for the YouTube Allstars in the Sidemen Charity Match at Wembley Stadium.