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

This joke is greeted with groans that echo through a warehouse in London.

This describes a humor-evaluation meeting with a firm that produces supplies for social events. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

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

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

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

The Science Behind Communal Laughter

Gathering to experience communal amusement is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is probably to be pre-human.

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

Shared laughter, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social connections between people.

Researchers have discovered that a absence of such social exchanges can seriously harm both psychological and bodily health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' release," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce stress and pain and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you love."

What Happens In the Mind?

But what is truly taking place inside the brain when we hear a joke?

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

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which shows which areas of the mind are more active, scientists have been able to map the regions that get more blood.

The research entails scanning the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a really interesting activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the areas of the brain in charge of hearing and interpreting language, but also neural areas associated with both planning and starting motion and those linked to vision and memory.

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated series of neural responses that underpin the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Scientists found that when a funny phrase is paired with chuckles there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical phrase when followed by a non-emotional sound.

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

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be infectious.

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

"People laugh harder when you know people," she notes, "and laughter increases further when you like them or love them."

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

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

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the perfect gag?

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

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

Over 40,000 jokes later, with ratings provided by 350,000 people around the world, he has a clearer idea than many as to what works and what does not.

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

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

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

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

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

"That's a shared moment at the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."