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

This quip is greeted with groans that resonate through a storage facility in London.

We're at a joke-testing session with a company that makes products for social events. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

The company's founder grins, almost apologetically at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the volume of moans and the loudness of the groans at the table," the founder says.

The secret to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a good joke in itself. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the shared amusement of the holiday dinner table with elders, children and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that brings the eight-year-old together with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to enjoy communal amusement is not only ancient, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with others at the holiday dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a truly ancient mammalian social sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Shared amusement, she says, helps forge and strengthen social connections between individuals.

Researchers have found that a absence of such social exchanges can significantly damage mental and physical health.

"Those you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in increased amounts of 'happy chemical' release," the professor adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a truly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish joke with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital task of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with those you love."

Which Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is truly happening inside the brain when we hear a gag?

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

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the areas that get more blood flow.

The research entails scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

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

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and interpreting language, but also neural areas associated with both preparation and starting movement and those linked to sight and memory.

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

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a funny word is paired with laughter there is a stronger response in the brain than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would employ to contort your face into a grin or a laugh," she says.

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

Amusement, according to the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard at a Christmas gathering?

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

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she says, the feel-good effect is more probable to be caused not by the gag itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever discover the perfect gag?

Probably not, but that has not prevented experts from trying to.

Years ago, a psychologist established a scientific search for the world's funniest joke.

More than tens of thousands of gags submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker pun needs to be short, he explains.

"But they also be poor jokes, puns that make us groan," he continues.

The increasingly "terrible" the joke, he says the more effective.

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

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

"It creates a shared moment at the gathering and I think it's lovely."