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

This joke is met by moans that echo through a warehouse in London.

This describes a joke-testing session with a company that makes supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The firm's founder grins, nearly 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 number of groans and the loudness of the groans at the table," she explains.

The secret to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up joke in itself. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with grandparents, children and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that brings the eight-year-old in harmony with the grandparent," she adds.

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Laughter

Gathering to experience shared laughter is not only ancient, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with people at the Christmas table you are dropping into what's very likely a really ancient mammal play vocalisation," says a professor.

Shared amusement, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between people.

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

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in increased amounts of endorphin uptake," she continues.

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you love."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is actually taking place inside the mind when we hear a gag?

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

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

The research involves imaging the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a collection of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

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

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for auditory processing and interpreting language, but also brain regions associated with both preparation and starting movement and those linked to vision and memory.

Combine all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of neural responses that underpin the amusement we hear.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

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

"This activation occurred in areas of the mind that you would use to move your face into a grin or a laugh," the professor explains.

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

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles found at a holiday table?

"You laugh more when you know people," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you are fond of them or care for them."

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

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to laugh together."

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Will we ever find the perfect gag?

Likely not, but that has not prevented experts from attempting to.

Years ago, a professor established a scientific project for the world's funniest gag.

More than tens of thousands of gags submitted, with scores lodged by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

The ideal Christmas cracker pun must be short, he says.

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

The more "terrible" the gag, he states the better.

"The reason is that if nobody finds it funny – it's the gag's shortcoming, not yours.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker puns is that not one person considers them funny.

"That's a common moment around the table and I think it's wonderful."