🔗 Share this article

"What was the price did Father Christmas's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This joke is met by moans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing session with a company that produces products for social events. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the joke has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans at the table," she says.

The secret to a good holiday cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up gag in itself. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas dinner table with elders, kids and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Behind Communal Amusement

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

"So when you are chuckling with people at the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a really primordial mammal play sound," explains a professor.

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

Researchers have discovered that a absence of such interactions can seriously damage mental and physical health.

"The people you converse with, and laugh with, it results in enhanced levels of endorphin release," she continues.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with friends over a truly awful festive cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the truly vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you care about."

What Occurs In the Brain?

But what is actually taking place within the mind when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in reaction to humour, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood flow.

The research involves scanning the brains of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a very interesting pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A joke stimulates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and understanding language, but also neural areas associated with both planning and initiating motion and those involved in sight and memory.

Combine all of this as a whole, and people hearing a pun have a complex set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists discovered that when a funny word is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the mind than the identical phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

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

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

Laughter, says the expert, can be infectious.

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

"People laugh harder when you know others," she says, "and you laugh further when you are fond of them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she says, the positive factor is more likely to be triggered not by the gag itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a research search for the planet's funniest gag.

Over tens of thousands of jokes submitted, with scores provided by hundreds of thousands of people globally, he has a clearer idea than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker pun must be brief, he explains.

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

The more "terrible" the gag, he says the better.

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's shortcoming, not yours.

"The fascinating part about the holiday cracker puns is that none of us find them funny.

"It creates a shared moment at the table and I think it's lovely."