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"How much did Father Christmas's sleigh cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This one-liner is greeted with moans that resonate through a storage facility in London.

This describes a humor-evaluation session with a company that makes products for social events. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has made the cut 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 explains.

The key to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the communal laughter of the holiday meal with grandparents, kids and potentially neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that brings the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to enjoy communal laughter is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with people at the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a truly ancient mammal play sound," says a professor.

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

Scientists have found that a lack of such social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in increased amounts of 'happy chemical' release," she adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with friends over a particularly awful festive cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly important task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

What Happens In the Mind?

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

An awful lot occurs in response to comedy, it turns out.

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which parts of the mind are more active, scientists have been able to map the regions that receive more blood.

The research involves imaging the brains of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a really interesting pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain areas involved in both preparation and starting movement and those involved in vision and memory.

Combine these elements as a whole, and people hearing a joke have a complex set of brain reactions that support the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Scientists found that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a stronger response in the brain than the same word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would use to contort your face into a grin or a chuckle," the professor says.

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

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles found around a Christmas gathering?

"People laugh more when you know people," she says, "and you laugh further when you are fond of them or love them."

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

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

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the ultimate joke?

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

Years ago, a professor set up a research project for the planet's most humorous gag.

Over tens of thousands of jokes submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker joke needs to be brief, he explains.

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

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

"The reason is that if nobody laughs – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker jokes is that none of us find them humorous.

"It creates a shared experience around the table and I think it's wonderful."