I feel like this is one of those 'damned if you, damned if you don't' situations. Elminster, Drizzt, Volo (and Minsc) are all going to show up in this game. People want it to be linked to the first games and to FR lore. He has always been a puffed up moron that thinks waaaay to highly of himself, nothing about this implementation is out of character.
Having a 'jester' character has also been common to the earlier games and though generally filled by gnome companions, it makes sense for a famous character to pull double duty like this, especially now that we have a 'home base' mechanic. I for one am happy that I won't be burdened with a quality companion that has to play the fool just to fill the archetype.
He is really easy to ignore, just ignore him.
