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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 storage facility in London.

This describes a joke-testing session with a company that makes supplies for gatherings. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, almost apologetically at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the joke by the volume of groans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The key to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up joke in itself. It is all about the setting - in this case, the shared amusement of the holiday meal with elders, children and possibly friends.

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

The Science Of Communal Laughter

Coming together to enjoy communal amusement is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are laughing with others at the holiday dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammalian social vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she explains, helps make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a lack of such interactions can significantly damage mental and physical health.

"Those you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in increased amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor continues.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible festive cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish pun with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly important work of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you care about."

Which Occurs In the Mind?

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

A tremendous amount happens in response to comedy, it transpires.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which indicates which areas of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood flow.

Testing involves scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

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

A gag stimulates not just the areas of the mind in charge of hearing and interpreting speech, but also brain regions associated with both preparation and starting motion and those linked to vision and memory.

Put all of this as a whole, and individuals listening to a joke have a complex series of neural reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a humorous word is combined with laughter there is a greater reaction in the brain than the identical phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the brain that you would employ to contort your face into a smile or a chuckle," the professor says.

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

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter heard at a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh harder when you are familiar with people," she notes, "and you laugh more when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, the positive factor is more likely to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The gag is the terrible Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

The Search for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the ultimate joke?

Probably not, but that has not stopped researchers from attempting to.

Years ago, a professor established a research search for the world's most humorous joke.

Over tens of thousands of gags later, with ratings provided by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

The perfect festive cracker pun must be short, he says.

"They must also need to be poor jokes, jokes that cause us to moan," he continues.

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

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

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

"It creates a common experience at the gathering and I think it's wonderful."