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

This joke is met by groans that resonate through a warehouse in London.

We're at a joke-testing session with a firm that makes supplies for social events. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

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

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

The secret to a great holiday cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, kids and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that unites the eight-year-old together with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Of Shared Laughter

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

"Therefore when you are chuckling with others at the holiday dinner you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammalian social sound," explains a professor.

Shared laughter, she says, aids in forge and strengthen social connections between people.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of such social exchanges can seriously harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a truly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are actually doing a lot of the really important work of building, preserving the connections you have with those you love."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

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

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

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of neural imager which indicates which parts of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

The research involves scanning the brains of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a collection of funny phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a really fascinating pattern of activation," notes the professor.

A joke activates not just the parts of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain regions involved in both planning and starting motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Combine these elements as a whole, and individuals hearing a pun have a complex set of neural reactions that support the amusement we hear.

The Infectious Power of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a humorous word is paired with chuckles there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical phrase when followed by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would employ to contort your expression into a smile or a laugh," the professor explains.

It indicates we are not just reacting to humorous jokes, they are reacting to the amusement that follows them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles heard around a holiday table?

"People laugh harder when you are familiar with people," she notes, "and you laugh more when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the feel-good factor is more probable to be triggered not by the joke in itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Search for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever find the ultimate joke?

Probably not, but that has not prevented researchers from trying to.

Years ago, a psychologist established a research project for the planet's funniest gag.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with ratings lodged by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer understanding than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

The perfect Christmas cracker joke needs to be brief, he explains.

"But they also need to be bad jokes, puns that make us moan," he continues.

The increasingly "terrible" the gag, he says the better.

"The reason is that if no-one laughs – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker puns is that none of us considers them humorous.

"It creates a shared experience around the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."