🔗 Share this article

"How much did Santa's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This quip is met by moans that resonate through a storage facility in London.

This describes a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that makes products for gatherings. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The company's owner smiles, nearly sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

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

The secret to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a good joke in itself. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the communal amusement of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, kids and potentially neighbours.

"You want the joke to be a thing that unites the child in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Of Shared Laughter

Coming together to enjoy communal amusement is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with others at the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammal social vocalisation," explains a neuroscience expert.

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

Scientists have found that a absence of such social exchanges can significantly damage mental and physical health.

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly awful Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert says. "You are actually performing a lot of the truly vital task of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with those you love."

What Occurs In the Mind?

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

An awful lot happens in reaction to humour, it transpires.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which indicates which areas of the brain are more active, scientists have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood.

The research involves scanning the minds of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a collection of humorous words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

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

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

Combine all of this together, and individuals hearing a pun have a complex series of neural responses that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a humorous word is combined with laughter there is a stronger reaction in the mind than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would use to move your expression into a smile or a chuckle," she says.

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles heard around a holiday table?

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

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

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

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the ultimate joke?

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

Years ago, a psychologist set up a research project for the planet's funniest joke.

More than tens of thousands of jokes submitted, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, he has a clearer idea than many as to what works and what does not.

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

"But they also be poor jokes, jokes that make us groan," he continues.

The more "awful" the gag, he states the more effective.

"The reason is that if no-one laughs – it's the gag's fault, not your own.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker jokes is that not one person find them humorous.

"It creates a shared experience around the table and I believe it's wonderful."