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"How much did Father Christmas's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

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

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

The firm's owner grins, nearly sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

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

The secret to a good holiday cracker joke is not the same as a stand-up gag per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the communal amusement of the Christmas meal with grandparents, children and potentially neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that brings the child together with the grandparent," she adds.

The Neuroscience Of Shared Amusement

Coming together to enjoy shared laughter is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with others around the holiday dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a truly ancient mammal play sound," says a neuroscience expert.

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

Scientists have discovered that a absence of these social exchanges can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased levels of endorphin uptake," she continues.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly awful Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly vital work of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you care about."

Which Happens In the Mind?

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

An awful lot happens in response to comedy, it transpires.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which areas of the mind are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood.

The research entails scanning the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous words, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we got a really interesting pattern of activation," notes the professor.

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for auditory processing and understanding language, but also neural areas involved in both preparation and initiating motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Put all of this together, and people listening to a pun have a complex set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a funny phrase is combined with chuckles there is a stronger reaction in the brain than the same phrase when followed by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in parts of the brain that you would employ to contort your face into a grin or a chuckle," the professor explains.

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be contagious.

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

"You laugh more when you are familiar with others," she says, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she explains, the positive effect is more probable to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the ultimate joke?

Likely not, but that has not prevented researchers from attempting to.

Years ago, a psychologist established a scientific search for the world's most humorous gag.

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

The perfect festive cracker pun needs to be short, he says.

"But they also need to be poor gags, puns that make us moan," he adds.

The more "awful" the joke, he states the more effective.

"This is because if no-one finds it funny – it's the gag's fault, not your own.

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

"It creates a shared moment around the table and I think it's wonderful."