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

This quip is met by moans that resonate through a warehouse in London.

We're at a joke-testing session with a company that produces supplies for social events. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The company's founder grins, almost sheepishly at the gag. But the pun has been selected and will feature in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans at the table," the founder explains.

The key to a good Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a good joke in itself. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the communal laughter of the holiday dinner table with elders, children and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Behind Shared Laughter

Gathering to experience shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is likely to be pre-human.

"So when you are chuckling with others at the Christmas table you are engaging in what's very likely a really ancient mammalian play sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a absence of such social exchanges can significantly harm mental and physical health.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased amounts of endorphin uptake," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the truly vital task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you love."

What Occurs Inside the Mind?

But what is truly taking place inside the brain when we listen to a joke?

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

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the areas that get more blood.

Testing involves scanning the minds of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a very fascinating activation pattern of activation," notes the professor.

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and understanding speech, but also brain areas associated with both planning and initiating motion and those linked to vision and recall.

Put all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that support the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Power of Laughter

Scientists found that when a funny phrase is paired with chuckles there is a greater response in the mind than the same phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would employ to move your face into a smile or a laugh," the professor explains.

It indicates we are not just responding to humorous jokes, they are reacting to the laughter that follows them.

Amusement, according to the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles found around a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh harder when you are familiar with others," she says, "and you laugh further when you are fond of them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the positive effect is more likely to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to laugh as a group."

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect gag?

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

In 2001, a psychologist established a research search for the planet's funniest gag.

More than 40,000 jokes submitted, with scores provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker joke must be brief, he says.

"But they also need to be bad jokes, jokes that cause us to moan," he continues.

The more "awful" the gag, he says the better.

"The reason is that if nobody finds it funny – it's the gag's shortcoming, not yours.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker jokes is that none of us considers them funny.

"That's a shared experience around the gathering and I think it's lovely."