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

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

This describes a humor-evaluation session with a firm that makes products for social events. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The company's founder grins, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the gag by the volume of moans and the loudness of the groans around the table," she explains.

The key to a good holiday cracker pun is not the identical as a good joke per se. It is all about the setting - in this case, the communal laughter of the Christmas meal with grandparents, kids and potentially friends.

"You want the joke to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Neuroscience Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to enjoy communal laughter is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is probably to be pre-human.

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

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

Scientists have discovered that a lack of these interactions can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"Those you converse with, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced levels of endorphin release," she adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in response to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly awful festive cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually performing a lot of the truly important work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you love."

Which Happens In the Brain?

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

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

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which shows which parts of the mind are working harder, researchers have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

Testing involves imaging the brains of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a database of funny phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a really interesting pattern of neural activity," notes the professor.

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and interpreting speech, but also brain areas associated with both planning and starting motion and those involved in sight and memory.

Combine these elements as a whole, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated series of brain reactions that support the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a humorous phrase is paired with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the same word when followed by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the mind that you would use to move your expression into a smile or a chuckle," she says.

It means we are not just responding to funny jokes, they are responding to the amusement that follows them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles found at a holiday table?

"People laugh more when you know others," she says, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of them or care for them."

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

"It's the laughter. The gag is the terrible Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to chuckle as a group."

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

Likely not, but that has not stopped experts from attempting to.

Years ago, a psychologist set up a scientific project for the planet's most humorous joke.

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with scores lodged by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker pun needs to be short, he explains.

"They must also need to be bad jokes, jokes that make us moan," he continues.

The more "terrible" the joke, he states the better.

"The reason is that if nobody laughs – it's the joke's shortcoming, not your own.

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

"That's a common experience at the table and I think it's wonderful."