🔗 Share this article

"How much did Santa's sleigh cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This quip is greeted with moans that resonate through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing session with a company that produces supplies for gatherings. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The firm's founder smiles, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will feature in future crackers.

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

The key to a great holiday cracker joke is not the same as a stand-up joke per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, children and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that unites the child in harmony with the grandparent," she adds.

The Science Of Shared Amusement

Gathering to enjoy shared amusement is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

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

Shared amusement, she says, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can seriously harm mental and physical well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it results in enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with friends over a truly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with those you care about."

What Happens In the Mind?

But what is actually happening within the mind when we hear a gag?

An awful lot occurs in reaction to comedy, it turns out.

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are more active, scientists have been able to chart the regions that get more blood.

Testing entails scanning the brains of healthy participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

"During the study we got a really interesting activation pattern of neural activity," notes the professor.

A joke activates not just the parts of the brain in charge of auditory processing and interpreting language, but also brain areas involved in both planning and starting motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Put these elements together, and individuals listening to a pun have a sophisticated set of brain responses that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Researchers discovered that when a funny phrase is paired with laughter there is a stronger reaction in the brain than the same word when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would use to move your expression into a grin or a chuckle," the professor explains.

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be contagious.

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

"People laugh harder when you are familiar with people," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you like them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she explains, the positive factor is more probable to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The gag is the dreadful Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to laugh as a group."

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate joke?

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

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

Over 40,000 gags submitted, with scores lodged by 350,000 people globally, he has a better understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

The perfect festive cracker joke needs to be brief, he explains.

"But they also need to be bad gags, jokes that make us groan," he continues.

The increasingly "awful" the gag, he states the better.

"This is because if nobody laughs – it's the gag's shortcoming, not your own.

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

"That's a common experience around the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."