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

This one-liner is greeted with groans that echo through a warehouse in London.

We're at a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that makes products for social events. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the joke has made the cut and will feature in upcoming crackers.

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

The secret to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a good gag per se. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the communal amusement of the Christmas meal with grandparents, children and possibly neighbours.

"You want the joke to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to experience shared laughter is not only nothing new, scientists argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with people at the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a truly ancient mammal play sound," explains a professor.

Communal laughter, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between individuals.

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

"Those you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to increased amounts of endorphin release," the professor adds.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce stress and pain and in response to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert states. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital work of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you care about."

What Happens Inside the Brain?

But what is actually taking place within the brain when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in response to humour, it transpires.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which parts of the brain are more active, scientists have been able to map the areas that get more blood flow.

Testing entails scanning the brains of healthy participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we observed a very interesting pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for auditory processing and interpreting speech, but also neural regions involved in both preparation and starting motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Put all of this together, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of brain responses that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

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

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would use to contort your face into a smile or a laugh," the professor says.

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be contagious.

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

"You laugh harder when you know others," she says, "and you laugh more when you like them or love them."

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

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

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect gag?

Probably not, but that has not stopped researchers from attempting to.

Years ago, a psychologist established a research search for the planet's most humorous gag.

More than 40,000 jokes later, with scores provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a better idea than most as to what works and what does not.

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

"But they also be poor jokes, jokes that cause us to moan," he adds.

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

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

"The fascinating part about the Christmas cracker jokes is that not one person considers them humorous.

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