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"What was the price did Santa's sleigh 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 firm that makes 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 upcoming crackers.

"You measure the gag by the volume of groans and the intensity of the groans at the table," she says.

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up gag in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the communal laughter of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, kids and possibly friends.

"You want the gag to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the grandparent," she adds.

The Neuroscience Of Shared Laughter

Coming together to enjoy shared laughter is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with people at the Christmas table you are engaging in what's very likely a truly ancient mammal play vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she says, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these interactions can seriously harm mental and physical well-being.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it results in increased amounts of endorphin uptake," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with friends over a truly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

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

An awful lot happens in response to humour, it turns out.

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

Testing entails scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a collection of funny words, paired with either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"During the study we observed a really interesting activation pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A gag stimulates not just the areas of the brain in charge of hearing and understanding speech, but also neural regions involved in both planning and starting motion and those linked to sight and memory.

Put all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of neural reactions that underpin the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a humorous word is combined with laughter there is a greater reaction in the mind than the same phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the brain that you would use to contort your face into a grin or a chuckle," she explains.

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

Laughter, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles found at a Christmas table?

"You laugh harder when you know people," she notes, "and you laugh further when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the feel-good effect is more likely to be caused not by the joke itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Search for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a psychologist established a scientific search for the world's most humorous joke.

More than 40,000 jokes later, with scores provided by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what fails.

The ideal festive cracker pun must be short, he says.

"But they also be bad jokes, jokes that make us groan," he adds.

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

"The reason is that if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's fault, not your own.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker jokes is that not one person considers them humorous.

"That's a common moment around the gathering and I believe it's lovely."