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

This joke is met by groans that resonate through a storage facility in London.

We're at a joke-testing meeting with a firm that makes products for gatherings. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The firm's owner grins, nearly sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has made the cut and will feature in future crackers.

"You measure the joke by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," she says.

The secret to a great holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a good gag in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, kids and possibly friends.

"You want the joke to be a thing that brings the eight-year-old together with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to enjoy shared amusement is not only nothing new, scientists argue, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with people at the holiday dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a truly ancient mammalian social sound," explains a professor.

Communal laughter, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Scientists have found that a lack of such interactions can seriously damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in increased amounts of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

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

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are actually performing a lot of the truly vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with those you love."

Which Happens Inside the Mind?

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

An awful lot happens in response to humour, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which indicates which areas of the brain are more active, scientists have been able to map the regions that get more blood flow.

The research entails imaging the minds of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a collection of funny phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

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

A joke stimulates not just the parts of the mind in charge of auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain areas involved in both planning and initiating motion and those linked to vision and recall.

Combine all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated series of brain responses that support the laughter we experience.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Scientists found that when a funny phrase is combined with laughter there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical word when accompanied by a neutral sound.

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

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

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter heard around a Christmas gathering?

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

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the positive effect is more likely to be caused not by the gag in itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a reason to laugh as a group."

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a psychologist established a research project for the world's funniest joke.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with scores lodged by 350,000 participants globally, he has a better idea than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

The perfect Christmas cracker joke must be short, he says.

"But they also need to be bad jokes, jokes that make us groan," he continues.

The increasingly "awful" the gag, he says the more effective.

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

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

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