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

This one-liner is met by groans that resonate through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a humor-evaluation session with a firm that produces products for gatherings. Its repertoire features Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, almost apologetically at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

"You measure the gag by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans at the table," she says.

The key to a great holiday cracker pun is not the identical as a stand-up gag per se. It is all about the setting - in this case, the communal amusement of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, kids and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that brings the child together with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Of Shared Laughter

Gathering to experience communal amusement is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are laughing with others around the holiday table you are dropping into what's almost certainly a truly primordial mammal play vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between people.

Scientists have found that a absence of such social exchanges can significantly harm mental and physical well-being.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased amounts of endorphin release," the professor continues.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly terrible festive cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the truly important task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

Which Happens In the Mind?

But what is truly taking place inside the mind when we listen to a gag?

A tremendous amount occurs in response to comedy, it turns out.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 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.

Testing involves imaging the brains of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a collection of humorous phrases, paired with either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"During the study we observed a really fascinating pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the parts of the brain in charge of hearing and understanding speech, but also brain areas associated with both planning and initiating movement and those linked to sight and recall.

Combine all of this together, and people listening to a pun have a sophisticated series of brain responses that support the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a humorous word is combined with chuckles there is a greater response in the brain than the identical phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would employ to move your expression into a smile or a chuckle," the professor says.

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

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

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

"People laugh harder when you know people," she notes, "and you laugh further when you are fond of them or love them."

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

"The laughter is key. The gag is the dreadful Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a reason to chuckle together."

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the ultimate joke?

Probably not, but that has not stopped experts from attempting to.

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

Over tens of thousands of gags later, with scores provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker pun needs to be short, he explains.

"They must also be bad gags, puns that make us moan," he adds.

The increasingly "terrible" the joke, he states the better.

"The reason is that if nobody laughs – it's the gag's shortcoming, not yours.

"The fascinating part about the Christmas cracker puns is that not one person considers them humorous.

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