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"How much 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.

We're at a humor-evaluation meeting with a firm that produces products for gatherings. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

The company's owner smiles, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the pun has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the volume of groans and the intensity of the groans at the table," the founder says.

The key to a good Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the communal laughter of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, children and possibly friends.

"You want the gag to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Neuroscience Of Communal Amusement

Coming together to experience communal laughter is not only nothing new, scientists argue, it is likely to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with others around the Christmas table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammal play sound," says a professor.

Shared amusement, she explains, helps make and maintain social bonds between people.

Scientists have found that a lack of these interactions can significantly damage mental and physical health.

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

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly terrible festive cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a silly joke with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly vital task of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you care about."

Which Happens Inside the Mind?

But what is truly taking place within the mind when we hear a joke?

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

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of neural imager which shows which areas of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to map the areas that get more blood.

The research entails imaging the brains of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a very interesting pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the parts of the brain responsible for hearing and interpreting speech, but also brain regions associated with both preparation and initiating motion and those linked to sight and recall.

Put all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a joke have a complex series of brain reactions that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Researchers found that when a funny word is combined with chuckles there is a greater response in the mind than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would use to contort your expression into a grin or a laugh," the professor says.

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

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

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

"You laugh harder when you are familiar with others," she says, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, the feel-good effect is more probable 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 pun, and it's just a reason to chuckle together."

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a research project for the planet's most humorous gag.

Over tens of thousands of gags submitted, with scores provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

The ideal festive cracker joke must be short, he says.

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

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

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the gag's shortcoming, not your own.

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

"That's a common experience at the gathering and I think it's wonderful."