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

This quip is greeted with moans that resonate through a storage facility in London.

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

The company's owner smiles, almost apologetically at the joke. But the joke has been selected and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the gag by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans around the table," she says.

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

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

The Neuroscience Of Communal Laughter

Coming together to experience communal laughter is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are chuckling with others around the Christmas table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammal social vocalisation," explains a professor.

Communal laughter, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between people.

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

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it results in enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," she adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly awful festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually performing a lot of the really important task of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with those you love."

Which Occurs In the Brain?

But what is actually taking place inside the mind when we hear a gag?

An awful lot occurs in response to humour, it transpires.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which areas of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the regions that get more blood.

The research entails scanning the minds of healthy participants and then subjecting them to a collection of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a very fascinating pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the parts of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain areas associated with both preparation and initiating motion and those involved in sight and recall.

Put all of this as a whole, and people listening to a pun have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that support the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Scientists found that when a funny word is combined with chuckles there is a stronger response in the mind than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would employ to contort your face into a grin or a laugh," she says.

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

Laughter, according to the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles heard at a Christmas table?

"People laugh more when you are familiar with people," she says, "and you laugh further when you like them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she explains, the feel-good factor is more likely to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to laugh together."

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a professor established a research project for the world's most humorous joke.

Over tens of thousands of gags submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 participants globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what fails.

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

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

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

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

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

"It creates a common experience at the gathering and I believe it's lovely."