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"How much did Father Christmas's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This joke is greeted with groans that echo through a warehouse in London.

We're at a humor-evaluation session with a firm that makes products for gatherings. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the joke has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

"You measure the joke by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans at the table," the founder explains.

The key to a great holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up gag per se. It is all about the context - in this instance, the shared amusement of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, children and potentially neighbours.

"The goal is for the gag to be a thing that brings the eight-year-old together with the grandparent," she adds.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Amusement

Coming together to enjoy communal amusement is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with people around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammalian social vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social connections between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a absence of such social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' release," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are actually doing a lot of the really important task of building, preserving the connections you have with those you love."

Which Occurs In the Brain?

But what is actually taking place within the brain when we hear a gag?

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to humour, it turns out.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of neural imager which shows which areas of the mind are working harder, researchers have been able to map the areas that receive more blood flow.

Testing entails imaging the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous words, paired with either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we got a really interesting activation pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the brain in charge of hearing and interpreting language, but also neural regions involved in both preparation and initiating movement and those involved in vision and recall.

Combine all of this together, and people hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of brain responses that support the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Researchers found that when a funny phrase is paired with laughter there is a stronger reaction in the mind than the identical word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would employ to move your face into a smile or a chuckle," she explains.

It indicates we are not just reacting to funny jokes, they are reacting to the laughter that accompanies them.

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter found around a holiday table?

"You laugh more when you are familiar with people," she notes, "and you laugh further when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the feel-good effect is more likely to be caused not by the gag in itself, but from the reaction to it.

"It's the laughter. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker pun, and it's just a reason to chuckle together."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate joke?

Probably not, but that has not stopped researchers from trying to.

Years ago, a psychologist set up a research project for the world's funniest gag.

Over tens of thousands of gags submitted, with ratings lodged by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer understanding than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

The ideal festive cracker joke needs to be brief, he says.

"But they also be bad gags, jokes that make us moan," he continues.

The more "awful" the gag, he states the more effective.

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's shortcoming, not your own.

"The fascinating part about the Christmas cracker jokes is that not one person considers them humorous.

"It creates a shared experience around the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."