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

This joke is met by moans that echo through a storage facility in London.

This describes a joke-testing session with a firm that makes products for gatherings. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

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

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

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a good gag in itself. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the communal laughter of the Christmas meal with grandparents, kids and possibly neighbours.

"You want the joke to be a thing that unites the eight-year-old together with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Laughter

Gathering to enjoy shared laughter is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with people around the holiday table you are engaging in what's very likely a really primordial mammal play sound," says a professor.

Shared amusement, she says, helps make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to increased amounts of endorphin uptake," the professor adds.

Endorphins are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish pun with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is actually taking place within the brain when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in response to comedy, it turns out.

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which indicates which parts of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to map the regions that get more blood flow.

Testing entails imaging the minds of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a really interesting pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the areas of the brain in charge of hearing and interpreting language, but also brain areas involved in both preparation and starting motion and those linked to sight and memory.

Put all of this as a whole, and individuals listening to a joke have a complex set of neural reactions that support the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

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

"This was in parts of the brain that you would use to contort your face into a smile or a chuckle," the professor says.

It means we are not just reacting to humorous words, they are responding to the amusement that follows them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be infectious.

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

"People laugh harder when you are familiar with others," she says, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the positive effect is more probable to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the perfect joke?

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

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

Over 40,000 jokes later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a better idea than many as to what works and what fails.

The ideal festive cracker pun must be brief, he explains.

"They must also need to be bad gags, jokes that cause us to moan," he adds.

The increasingly "terrible" the gag, he says the more effective.

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

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

"That's a shared experience at the table and I think it's lovely."