For close to a decade, the Christian sketch comedy team of Jon Lawhon and Fred Passmore, known as “Prime Example” entertained and blessed people with their unique brand of heavenly humor. This page is devoted to sharing the history and discography of the team.
Jon Lawhon and Fred Passmore first met in 1979 in Savannah, GA when Fred moved there for a short time. During that time, Fred attended Jon’s church Bacon Park Assembly (now known as Radiant Life Christian Fellowship), and became involved with the drama team there, and got into skit performing with Jon at the monthly “Saturday Night Life” youth events that featured skits and music by the young people of the congregation.
Jon and Fred’s friendship survived time and distance when Fred moved to West Virginia in 1981, where he got married, started a family, and went into radio. They collaborated on various comedy projects when visiting back and forth, creating recordings for Fred’s radio programs at the station where he worked. When in 1990 Fred was hired to produce the national radio program “Truths That Transform” by D. James Kennedy, and moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL for the position, he and Jon got together in 1992 to form “Prime Example.” Although still living in different states, they traveled to various bookings in hundreds of churches across a dozen states.
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In 1996, Fred moved to Metter, GA to accept a position producing the “Seeds From the Sower” program by Dr. Michael Guido, and Fred and Jon were finally close enough to collaborate much more often, producing two comedy albums; “Comedy Skits And Songs,” and “Comedy Cookout.” Listen to sample tracks and buy either or both CDs by clicking here.
Here’s a blast from the past: One of the earliest websites created by Prime Example! It’s archived here: Prime Example! (archive.org)
Their first radio release came in 1997, “Testimony Show,” on the Capitol Enterprises radio compilation, and met with much enthusiasm by gospel DJ’s who could relate to the message. In 1999 they released “Attack of the Monster Tongue,” their biggest hit, which went on to score the 79th song in the Top 80 as listed in the Singing News the month after it was released.
Listen to a preview segment of “Attack of the Monster Tongue” by clicking the player below.
Another great response was received by the Christmas release “The Great Church Robbery,” inspired by “the Grinch” story. It still gets airplay by request each holiday season to this day.
Listen to a preview snippet of “The Great Church Robbery” by clicking the player below.
Next, in 2001, they released “The Pastor’s Barbeque” to stations across the country, again on the Capitol Enterprises radio compilation. It also met with great response. They also created the one-minute comedy radio show “You Gotta Laugh!” which was sent out monthly to over 1,000 stations on the Capitol compilation discs. All of the songs mentioned here are available in script form with soundtracks for your own drama team to perform, along with many other skits and plays, right here on this site.
Although the team no longer travels to perform (after a decade of ministry), Fred and Jon still work together on Fred’s radio show/podcast “The Sheep Laughs Comedy Show.”
Below are some of the newspaper articles that they were featured in around the country.
WHAT WE OFFER:
Dramatic Plays:
Our plays range from 20 minutes all the way up to 80 minutes. They are written to engage the viewer, make them think, to impact the emotions, and present the Gospel in such a way that they perceive it as meeting the needs of their life. The aim is to bless the believer, and give the person that has never made a decision for Christ a desire to invite Him into their life.
Comedic Skits:
Our skits range in length from 5 minutes up to 20 minutes. While most are comedic in nature, using humor to impart a perspective that may not have been considered, the laughs are all tied into the message, and there is always a resolution that leads the viewer into consideration of the Truth contained in it. The humor can be enjoyed by all ages.
Soundtracks:
The soundtracks that we make to accompany the scripts add drama and emotional impact to the script’s performance. There are two different kinds of script and soundtrack; the kind where you do the lines live and the soundtrack is played at certain times during the performance; and second, the kind that supplies all the narration, music and effects mixed together to play as the actors perform, with no lines to learn. Each script description page tells you which kind it is under the “Soundtrack Key.”