🔗 Share this article

"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 joke-testing session with a firm that makes supplies for social events. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The company's owner smiles, nearly sheepishly at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will feature in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the volume of groans and the loudness of the groans around the table," the founder says.

The secret to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a good joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the shared laughter of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, kids and potentially neighbours.

"You want the joke to be a thing that unites the child together with the grandparent," she adds.

The Science Behind Shared Amusement

Gathering to experience shared amusement is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is likely to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with others around the holiday table you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal play sound," says a professor.

Shared amusement, she says, aids in make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a absence of these social exchanges can seriously damage mental and physical health.

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

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a truly terrible festive cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish joke with a Christmas cracker," the expert states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the truly important task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you care about."

What Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is truly happening within the brain when we listen to a gag?

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

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which indicates which areas of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to map the regions that receive more blood flow.

Testing involves scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a collection of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

"During the study we observed a really fascinating pattern of neural activity," notes the professor.

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind in charge of auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain areas associated with both planning and starting movement and those linked to vision and recall.

Combine these elements as a whole, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that support the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Researchers discovered that when a humorous word is combined with laughter there is a greater reaction in the mind than the identical word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in parts of the mind that you would employ to move your expression into a grin or a chuckle," she explains.

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

Amusement, says the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard at a holiday gathering?

"You laugh more when you know others," she says, "and you laugh more when you like them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she says, the feel-good effect is more likely to be triggered not by the joke in itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The joke is the terrible holiday cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to laugh together."

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the perfect gag?

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

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

Over tens of thousands of gags later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of people globally, he has a better understanding than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

The perfect Christmas cracker pun needs to be short, he explains.

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

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

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the gag's fault, not yours.

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

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