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

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

We're at a joke-testing meeting with a company that makes products for gatherings. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

The firm's founder grins, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The key to a good holiday cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up gag per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, children and potentially neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that unites the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Neuroscience Of Communal Amusement

Coming together to enjoy shared amusement is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is likely to be pre-human.

"So when you are chuckling with people around the holiday table you are engaging in what's very likely a truly ancient mammalian social sound," explains a professor.

Communal laughter, she says, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

Scientists have found that a absence of these social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it results in increased levels of endorphin release," she continues.

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly awful festive cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly vital work of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you love."

Which Happens In the Mind?

But what is actually happening inside the brain when we listen to a joke?

An awful lot happens in response to comedy, it transpires.

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

Testing involves scanning the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a collection of humorous words, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a really fascinating pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding speech, but also neural regions involved in both planning and initiating movement and those linked to sight and recall.

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that support the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Power of Laughter

Researchers found that when a funny word is paired with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the mind than the identical word when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the mind that you would use to move your face into a smile or a laugh," the professor explains.

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

Amusement, says the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard at a Christmas table?

"You laugh harder when you know people," she says, "and laughter increases more when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the feel-good factor is more likely to be caused not by the joke in itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Search for the Perfect Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the ultimate gag?

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

Years ago, a professor set up a research project for the world's funniest joke.

More than tens of thousands of gags submitted, with ratings provided by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what does not.

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

"They must also be bad jokes, jokes that make us moan," he continues.

The increasingly "awful" the joke, he says the better.

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

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker puns is that none of us find them humorous.

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