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

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

This describes a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that produces supplies for social events. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The firm's founder grins, almost apologetically at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans at the table," she says.

The key to a good holiday cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up gag per se. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the communal laughter of the holiday meal with grandparents, children and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Neuroscience Of Shared Amusement

Gathering to experience shared amusement is not only nothing new, experts say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with others around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a truly ancient mammalian play sound," explains a professor.

Shared amusement, she explains, aids in make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Scientists have found that a absence of these interactions can significantly harm both psychological and bodily health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced levels of endorphin uptake," the professor continues.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly awful Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are actually doing a lot of the really vital work of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you love."

What Occurs Inside the Mind?

But what is actually happening inside the mind when we hear a joke?

An awful lot happens in reaction to humour, it turns out.

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of neural imager which indicates which areas of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

Testing involves scanning the brains of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a very fascinating pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind in charge of hearing and understanding language, but also neural regions associated with both planning and initiating motion and those linked to sight and memory.

Combine these elements as a whole, and people hearing a joke have a complex set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Researchers discovered that when a humorous word is combined with laughter there is a stronger reaction in the brain than the identical phrase when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

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

It means people are not just reacting to funny words, they are reacting to the amusement that accompanies them.

Laughter, according to the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter found at a Christmas table?

"You laugh harder when you know others," she notes, "and you laugh further when you are fond of them or love them."

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

"It's the laughter. The joke is the dreadful holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to laugh as a group."

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the ultimate joke?

Likely not, but that has not prevented experts from trying to.

Years ago, a psychologist set up a research project for the planet's funniest joke.

Over tens of thousands of gags submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer idea than many as to what works and what fails.

The ideal Christmas cracker pun must be short, he explains.

"But they also be poor jokes, jokes that cause us to groan," he continues.

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

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

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

"It creates a common moment around the gathering and I believe it's lovely."