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"What was the price did Father Christmas's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This joke is greeted with moans that resonate through a warehouse in London.

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a company that produces products for social events. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The company's founder smiles, almost apologetically at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will feature in future crackers.

"You measure the joke by the volume of groans and the intensity of the groans at the table," she explains.

The secret to a great holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up gag in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the communal amusement of the holiday dinner table with elders, kids and potentially friends.

"You want the gag to be a thing that unites the child in harmony with the grandparent," she adds.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Amusement

Gathering to enjoy communal amusement is not only ancient, experts argue, it is likely to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with others at the holiday dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a truly primordial mammalian play vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Shared laughter, she explains, helps forge and strengthen social connections between people.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can seriously damage mental and physical well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor adds.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with loved ones over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert says. "You are actually doing a lot of the really vital work of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you love."

What Happens In the Brain?

But what is actually taking place inside the brain when we hear a joke?

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

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which shows which parts of the mind are working harder, scientists have been able to map the areas that receive more blood.

Testing entails scanning the brains of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny words, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a very interesting activation pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for auditory processing and interpreting language, but also brain areas involved in both preparation and starting motion and those linked to sight and memory.

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

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Scientists found that when a funny phrase is paired with chuckles there is a greater response in the brain than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would use to move your expression into a smile or a laugh," she explains.

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the laughter heard at a holiday table?

"People laugh more when you are familiar with others," she notes, "and you laugh further when you like 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 gag in itself, but from the reaction to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the dreadful Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to chuckle together."

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the ultimate joke?

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

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

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a clearer idea than many as to what works and what fails.

The ideal Christmas cracker pun must be brief, he explains.

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

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

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

"The fascinating part about the holiday cracker jokes is that not one person considers them humorous.

"It creates a common experience around the gathering and I think it's lovely."