Everything you say re: characters is true, but at the same time, it's not as if the term were doing weighty theoretical work in this post; there's no niche for non-characters (or less-characters) to inhabit. So if you'd rather replace it in your mind with "person from the show who is cool" feel free to do so. It's not that I don't think he is real (although of course he is performing, playing himself), I just never saw a need to set him aside for that reason.

And yes, sigh. Joss.