Contest winner Milks Laugh for commercial spots.

Most people laugh, but few people ever get paid for it.

Sherman Oaks resident Steve Josefson is one of the rare exceptions. He won a laughing contest, so he'll appear in Spanish-language TV commercials for the California Milk Processor Board. In return for yucking it up for the camera, Josefson got $1,000 and 100 gallons of milk.

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The joke started when the board--owners of the famous "Got Milk?" ad campaign--sponsored a laugh contest in conjunction with its strategy of linking milk to healthy teeth: The idea being that if your teeth look good, you're not afraid to show them when you' re having fun.

"The way we judged people was first, their laughs had to be funny, and second, they had to have good teeth," said Juan Pablo Ouvina, creative director at Grupo Gallegos, the Long Beach-based ad agency that produced the TV commercials.

Many TV campaigns in the past have featured contest winners, but this is the fast one in Ouvina's experience to judge entries based on laughter.

To gather entrants, the CMPB sponsored a statewide tour by standup comic Richard Villa of Compton. During his nightclub shows, Villa encouraged patrons to enter the contest. About 100 people submitted videos.

"I thought I had a good shot," Josefson said. "But I never thought my laugh would make me a star."

Josefson isn't Latino, but that wasn't a--the contest was open to everyone. the ads show the winner laughing, not speaking.

The commercials show Josefson laughing while a voice-over connects milk, laughter, beautiful teeth and cavity prevention.

The campaign is titled "Toma Leche," or "Drink Milk," and it targets women, particularly mothers, Ouvina said. The commercials started airing Nov. 19 on Spanish-language TV stations across the state, and they complete their run this week. The commercial is online at www.gotmilk.com.

It turned out to be a good fit for Josefson, "I'm never going to run out of milk," he said, referring to his prize. "In all seriousness, I've been a milk drinker all my life."

BY JOEL RUSSELL

Staff Reporter