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

This one-liner is greeted with groans that resonate through a warehouse in London.

This describes a joke-testing session with a firm that produces products for gatherings. Its repertoire features festive crackers.

The firm's founder smiles, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will feature in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans at the table," she says.

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the same as a good gag in itself. It is all about the context - in this instance, the communal amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, kids and potentially friends.

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

The Science Behind Communal Laughter

Gathering to experience communal amusement is not only nothing new, experts say, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with people at the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a really primordial mammal play sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she explains, aids in make and maintain social bonds between people.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of these social exchanges can seriously damage both psychological and bodily health.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased amounts of 'happy chemical' release," she adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a truly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

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

Which Occurs In the Mind?

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

A tremendous amount occurs in response to humour, it transpires.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of neural imager which shows which areas of the brain are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood.

Testing entails scanning the brains of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a very interesting pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A joke activates not just the parts of the mind in charge of hearing and understanding speech, but also brain regions involved in both planning and initiating motion and those involved in sight and recall.

Combine these elements as a whole, and people hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of brain responses that support the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Researchers discovered that when a humorous word is paired with chuckles there is a greater response in the brain than the identical word when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would use to contort your expression into a grin or a laugh," she explains.

It means we are not just responding to humorous words, they are responding to the laughter that accompanies them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

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

"People laugh more when you are familiar with others," she notes, "and you laugh further when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the positive factor is more probable to be caused not by the joke in 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 chuckle together."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect gag?

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

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

Over 40,000 jokes later, with scores lodged by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a better understanding than most as to what works and what fails.

The perfect Christmas cracker joke needs to be short, he explains.

"They must also need to be bad jokes, jokes that cause us to groan," he continues.

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

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the gag's fault, not yours.

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

"It creates a common experience at the table and I believe it's lovely."