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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 moans that echo through a storage facility in London.

This describes a joke-testing session with a company that makes products for gatherings. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The company's founder grins, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the gag by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans at the table," she explains.

The key to a good holiday cracker pun is not the same as a good joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the shared amusement of the Christmas dinner table with elders, children and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Laughter

Gathering to experience communal amusement is not only ancient, scientists say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with others at the Christmas table you are engaging in what's very likely a really ancient mammalian social vocalisation," explains a professor.

Shared laughter, she explains, helps make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of such social exchanges can significantly damage mental and physical well-being.

"Those you converse with, and laugh with, it results in increased levels of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to reduce stress and pain and in reaction to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a particularly terrible festive cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly joke with a Christmas cracker," she says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you love."

What Happens In the Brain?

But what is actually happening within the brain when we listen to a gag?

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

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which shows which parts of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to chart the areas that get more blood.

The research involves scanning the brains of volunteer subjects and then exposing 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 pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and interpreting language, but also neural areas involved in both planning and starting movement and those involved in vision and recall.

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a funny word is paired with chuckles there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would use to contort your expression into a smile or a chuckle," the professor says.

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

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

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

"People laugh more when you know others," she says, "and you laugh further when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she explains, the feel-good effect 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 terrible Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

The Search for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Will we ever discover the ultimate joke?

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

In 2001, a psychologist established a research search for the planet's funniest joke.

More than 40,000 jokes submitted, with ratings lodged by 350,000 people around the world, he has a better understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

The ideal Christmas cracker joke must be short, he explains.

"They must also be poor gags, puns that make us moan," he adds.

The more "awful" the joke, he says the more effective.

"The reason is that if nobody finds it funny – it's the gag's fault, not yours.

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

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