When I first saw the title and the word "butler" I was thinking that butlers could actually be our therapists. I think my little Glitch needs one - not only does she have problems with insomnia, it seems her head actually needs to be shrunk!
I am not terribly familiar with the "inner workings" so to speak of the Eliza type things.. I assume they're built on imput, but I wonder if one could be designed to be a bit "Glitchy" in attitude from the start. Something whimsical and fun and crazy :)
Well, you can check out SimSimi (http://www.simsimi.com). It's yet another chatbot, but the difference is that it responds using canned answers "taught" to it by its users. Users can press the Teach button to show a form where users input questions and answers. It can almost simulate a free flowing conversation, but sometimes most of the answers can be way off.