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

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

We're at a joke-testing session with a company that produces products for social events. Its repertoire features Christmas crackers.

The company's founder smiles, nearly sheepishly at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

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

The secret to a good Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up gag in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with grandparents, kids and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Of Shared Laughter

Coming together to enjoy shared amusement is not only nothing new, experts say, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with people around the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's almost certainly a truly primordial mammalian play sound," says a professor.

Shared laughter, she explains, helps forge and strengthen social connections between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of such social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor continues.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly terrible festive cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really important work of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

Which Occurs In the Brain?

But what is truly happening within the mind when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to humour, it turns out.

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which areas of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to map the areas that receive more blood flow.

The research involves imaging the brains of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a very interesting pattern of activation," says the professor.

A gag stimulates not just the areas of the mind responsible for auditory processing and interpreting language, but also brain areas involved in both planning and initiating motion and those linked to sight and recall.

Put these elements together, and individuals listening to a pun have a complex set of neural reactions that support the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a funny word is combined with laughter there is a stronger response in the brain than the identical phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

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

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

Amusement, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter heard around a holiday gathering?

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

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the feel-good effect is more likely to be caused not by the joke itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The joke is the terrible holiday cracker joke, and it's just a reason to chuckle together."

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect gag?

Probably not, but that has not stopped experts from trying to.

Years ago, a professor set up a research project for the planet's most humorous gag.

More than tens of thousands of jokes later, with ratings lodged by 350,000 participants globally, he has a better understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

The ideal Christmas cracker pun needs to be short, he says.

"But they also be bad gags, puns that cause us to moan," he continues.

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

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

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

"That's a shared experience at the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."