So it was that Mr. Jonathan, appearing before fellow West African leaders at a summit meeting here this week, bent his head, mumbled greetings and apologetically called himself a mere "stand-in for President Yar'Adua, who is unavailable".
Pinpointing exactly what Gethard does is difficult; the palpable vulnerability he displays on stage creates something that goes beyond mere stand-up and storytelling.
Was the whole self-important, self-obsessed media establishment refusing to grant the term 'artist' to a mere stand-up comedian, however brilliant and vastly influential?
The team helping starting goalie Jonathan Quick win the William M. Jennings Trophy in the regular season — given to the goaltender or goaltenders allowing the fewest goals — looked like mere stand-ins in Game 1. "Not a start we wanted," Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell said.
And with "respect" substituted for "submission," we need not worry about whether we are voting for a candidate on the basis of the views she has expressed and that are her own, or is the candidate a mere stand-in for her husband, about whom we know nothing?
Will this alter ego be a mere stand-in for yourself - in other words, will it be just like you except for his or her name?
"Grandmother" (grand-mere) stands for African ancestral wisdom, while grammar (the homonymous "grammaire") refers to the rules and techniques of moviemaking, a historically Western, paradigmatically modern art form.
He also satirizes a newspaper editor who says, "We mustn't let mere facts stand in the way of larger truths".
Supporters packed into the stands — mere feet from the playing field — well before kickoff.
Recent activism news has suggested that mere deprivation hardly stands a chance.
It stands mere metres from the charming cobbled streets of the medieval city, but in architectural and philosophical terms it might as well be on Mars.
