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

This quip is met by groans that echo through a warehouse in London.

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

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

"The success is gauged by the gag by the volume of moans and the loudness of the groans at the table," she says.

The secret to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up gag in itself. It is all about the context - in this instance, the communal amusement of the holiday meal with grandparents, children and potentially neighbours.

"You want the gag to be a thing that brings the eight-year-old together with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Behind Communal Laughter

Coming together to experience shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with others at the Christmas table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammal social sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Shared laughter, she explains, aids in make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Researchers have found that a lack of these social exchanges can significantly harm both psychological and bodily health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to increased levels of endorphin release," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with friends over a particularly awful festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert says. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly vital task of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

What Happens In the Brain?

But what is actually happening within the mind when we hear a gag?

A tremendous amount happens in response to comedy, it turns out.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which indicates which areas of the brain are working harder, scientists have been able to map the regions that receive more blood.

The research involves imaging the minds of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we got a very interesting activation pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain in charge of auditory processing and interpreting language, but also brain regions involved in both preparation and starting movement and those involved in sight and memory.

Put these elements as a whole, and people listening to a pun have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that underpin the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a humorous word is paired with laughter there is a greater reaction in the mind than the same word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the brain that you would use to move your expression into a grin or a chuckle," the professor says.

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be infectious.

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

"People laugh more when you know others," she notes, "and you laugh further when you like them or care for them."

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

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

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a professor established a research project for the world's most humorous gag.

Over tens of thousands of gags later, with ratings lodged by 350,000 participants globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker pun must be brief, he explains.

"They must also need to be bad gags, jokes that make us groan," he continues.

The increasingly "terrible" the joke, he states the more effective.

"The reason is that if no-one finds it funny – it's the joke's fault, not your own.

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

"That's a shared experience at the table and I believe it's lovely."