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"What was the price did Santa's sled cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This joke is met by groans that echo through a storage facility in London.

This describes a humor-evaluation meeting with a firm that produces supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

The company's owner grins, nearly sheepishly at the gag. But the joke has made the cut and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the number of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the same as a stand-up joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the communal amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, children and possibly neighbours.

"You want the joke to be something that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Amusement

Coming together to experience shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with people at the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a really ancient mammal social sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she explains, helps make and maintain social bonds between people.

Researchers have found that a lack of such interactions can significantly damage both psychological and bodily health.

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

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly terrible festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply laughing at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you care about."

What Happens In the Brain?

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

A tremendous amount happens in reaction to comedy, it turns out.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to map the areas that get more blood.

The research involves scanning the minds of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a collection of humorous phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we got a really interesting activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A joke stimulates not just the parts of the mind in charge of hearing and interpreting speech, but also brain regions associated with both planning and starting motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Put all of this together, and people listening to a joke have a complex set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a funny phrase is paired with chuckles there is a stronger reaction in the brain than the identical word when followed by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in parts of the mind that you would use to move your face into a grin or a chuckle," the professor explains.

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

Amusement, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter heard around a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh harder when you are familiar with people," she notes, "and you laugh further when you like them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the positive effect is more likely to be triggered not by the gag itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the dreadful holiday cracker joke, and it's just a reason to laugh as a group."

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a psychologist established a scientific project for the planet's funniest joke.

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer idea than many as to what works and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker joke must be brief, he says.

"But they also need to be poor jokes, puns that cause us to groan," he adds.

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

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

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

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