I'd also heard somewhere that Nick was sick while they were shooting some episode or another so Kelly stood in for him. I don't remember which episode it was, but I'm pretty sure I heard that in a commentary.
Edit:
I found it on IMDB. Kelly Donovan stood in for Nick Brendan in "Intervention." (Now I'm going to have to watch that episode again!) If I remember right, though, it wasn't for the speaking parts, just for the standing around in the Magic Box parts.