Kiado-Ryu Karate

Black Belt #35: Geoffrey "Cazh" Keith

Geoffrey “Cazh” Keith is the younger brother of David Keith, the “Technician” and KIA Black Belt #32. But brother is as close as the resemblance goes because Cazh and Technician are as different as night and day, as far as personalities are concerned. Both were, and still are, extremely well mannered, polite, and respectful but younger brother was … different, much different.

Both boys were initially part of the kids peewee class that met on Saturday mornings; and what mornings they were, especially when Cazh was present. What a comedian! It was more the rule than the exception with him that you laughed, laughed some more, and kept on laughing. Cazh’s antics kept us all in stitches from his early white belt days to his Black Belt Coronation in 1995.

Here’s a great story. At the Lambert Street studio there were two fighting rings, each seventeen feet square. The peewee class (consisting of 5 to 7 year olds) was in a sparring session in the ring toward the back of the studio. As was common, all the kids would sit around the ring until it was their time to fight. When Cazh’s turn came, he wasn’t around the ring. After a brief moment of looking for him, he was spotted in the front sparring ring laying on his back, body turned away from the ring where the fighting was going on, both his hands folded behind his head, left leg elevated and crossed over his right knee, looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought, oblivious to the world around him with no clue it was his time to fight. It was such an hysterically funny moment to see this little soul so far off into his own world without a care for the world at hand that the sparring had to be suspended until the laughter stopped.

Interestingly, that episode happened when Geoffrey was six. He is now a young man in his twenties and touring the country as, you guessed it, a professional comedian! Go Cazh!