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"What was the price did Father Christmas's sled cost? Zero, it was on the house."

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

We're at a humor-evaluation session with a company that produces supplies for social events. Its repertoire features Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, almost apologetically at the joke. But the joke has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

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

The key to a good holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a good joke in itself. It is all 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 grandparent," she adds.

The Science Of Communal Amusement

Gathering to experience communal amusement is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with others at the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a really primordial mammal social sound," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she explains, helps forge and strengthen social connections between people.

Researchers have found that a lack of these social exchanges can significantly damage mental and physical health.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased levels of endorphin uptake," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with loved ones over a particularly awful festive cracker gag.

"It's not simply laughing at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly important work of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you love."

What Happens In the Mind?

But what is truly happening inside the brain when we listen to a joke?

An awful lot occurs in response to comedy, it turns out.

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

Testing entails scanning the brains of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a database of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a very interesting activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and understanding language, but also brain areas involved in both planning and starting motion and those linked to sight and recall.

Combine all of this as a whole, and individuals listening to a pun have a complex series of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a greater response 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 move your expression into a grin or a laugh," the professor says.

It means people are not just responding to humorous jokes, they are reacting to the amusement that accompanies them.

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

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

"You laugh more when you know others," she notes, "and you laugh more when you like them or love them."

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

"The laughter is key. The gag is the dreadful Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a reason to chuckle as a group."

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a professor established a scientific search for the planet's funniest gag.

More than 40,000 jokes submitted, with scores provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a better idea than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

The perfect Christmas cracker joke must be brief, he explains.

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

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

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's shortcoming, not yours.

"The fascinating part about the holiday cracker puns is that none of us considers them humorous.

"It creates a common moment at the table and I think it's lovely."