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

This quip is met by moans that echo through a storage facility in London.

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a company that makes supplies for social events. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, almost apologetically at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the gag by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans at the table," the founder says.

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

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

The Science Behind Communal Amusement

Gathering to experience shared laughter is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with others around the holiday dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a truly primordial mammalian social vocalisation," says a professor.

Communal amusement, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social connections between people.

Scientists have discovered that a lack of these interactions can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced levels of endorphin uptake," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly awful festive cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish pun with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the really vital work of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you care about."

Which Occurs In the Brain?

But what is truly happening within the brain when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to comedy, it transpires.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to map the areas that get more blood.

The research entails scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we observed a very fascinating activation pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the parts of the mind in charge of hearing and interpreting speech, but also neural areas involved in both planning and starting movement and those involved in vision and recall.

Combine all of this together, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated series of neural reactions that support the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Chuckles

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

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

It indicates people are not just reacting to funny jokes, they are responding to the laughter that accompanies them.

Amusement, according to the expert, can be contagious.

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

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

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

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a research search for the world's funniest gag.

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

The ideal festive cracker joke needs to be short, he says.

"But they also need to be bad jokes, jokes that make us moan," he adds.

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

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the gag's shortcoming, not your own.

"The fascinating part about the Christmas cracker puns is that none of us considers them funny.

"That's a common experience around the table and I believe it's wonderful."