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"How much did Father Christmas's sleigh cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This quip is met by groans that echo through a warehouse in London.

We're at a joke-testing session with a firm that produces supplies for gatherings. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The firm's owner grins, almost apologetically at the joke. But the joke has made the cut and will appear in upcoming crackers.

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

The secret to a great holiday cracker pun is not the identical as a good joke in itself. It is all about the context - in this case, the communal laughter of the Christmas meal with elders, children and possibly friends.

"You want the joke to be something that brings the child together with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Of Shared Laughter

Coming together to experience communal laughter is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is likely to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with others around the holiday dinner you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal play vocalisation," explains a professor.

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

Scientists have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can significantly harm mental and physical well-being.

"Those you converse with, and laugh with, it results in enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," she continues.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly awful Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really important task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you love."

Which Happens In the Brain?

But what is truly taking place within the mind when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to humour, it transpires.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which shows which areas of the brain are working harder, scientists have been able to map the regions that receive more blood flow.

The research entails imaging the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a collection of funny words, paired with either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

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

A gag stimulates not just the areas of the brain responsible for hearing and understanding language, but also neural regions involved in both planning and starting movement and those linked to sight and memory.

Combine these elements together, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of brain responses that support the laughter we experience.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Scientists discovered that when a funny phrase is combined with laughter there is a stronger reaction in the mind than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the mind that you would employ to move your face into a grin or a chuckle," the professor says.

It indicates people are not just responding to humorous words, they are responding to the amusement that follows them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles found around a Christmas table?

"You laugh harder when you know people," she says, "and laughter increases further when you like them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she explains, the positive factor is more probable to be caused not by the gag itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The joke is the dreadful holiday cracker pun, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the ultimate gag?

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

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

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings lodged by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a better idea than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

The ideal Christmas cracker joke needs to be short, he says.

"They must also be bad gags, puns that make us moan," he continues.

The increasingly "awful" the joke, he says the more effective.

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the joke's shortcoming, not your own.

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker jokes is that not one person find them funny.

"That's a common experience around the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."