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

This joke is met by moans that resonate through a warehouse in London.

We're at a humor-evaluation session with a firm that makes products for social events. Its repertoire features Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner grins, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the joke has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The secret to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the identical as a good gag in itself. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the shared amusement of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, kids and possibly friends.

"You want the joke to be something that brings the child in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Laughter

Coming together to enjoy communal laughter is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

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

Shared laughter, she says, helps make and maintain social bonds between people.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of such interactions can seriously damage mental and physical well-being.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor adds.

Endorphins are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly terrible festive cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you love."

Which Happens In the Mind?

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

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

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

Testing entails imaging the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of funny phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we got a very fascinating pattern of activation," says the professor.

A joke stimulates not just the parts of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding speech, but also neural areas associated with both preparation and initiating motion and those involved in sight and recall.

Put these elements together, and people hearing a pun have a complex series of neural responses that underpin the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Scientists discovered that when a humorous phrase is paired with laughter there is a stronger response in the brain than the identical word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would employ to move your face into a grin or a chuckle," she says.

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

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the laughter found at a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh more when you know people," she notes, "and laughter increases further when you like them or love them."

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

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

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the perfect joke?

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

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

Over 40,000 jokes later, with scores provided by hundreds of thousands of people globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what does not.

The ideal Christmas cracker pun must be short, he says.

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

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

"The reason is that if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's fault, not your own.

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

"That's a common moment at the table and I believe it's lovely."