The Magic Behind How Christmas Cracker Jokes Are Tested
My particular brand of Christmas Cringe is that I love Christmas cracker jokes. They make me laugh out loud, I delight in the groans from my family as they’re read out and I even mentally store the best ones for retelling in the new year.
I just bloody love them.
Plus, honestly, if you don’t laugh at them, I just assume you’re playing it cool and are internally laughing as hard as I am.
How Christmas cracker jokes are tested
I will be honest here, I just assumed somebody was employed to make jokes for Christmas crackers, birthday cards, etc, all year round.
Apparently this is not the case which, uh, makes sense.
In fact, Stephen Menon and Laurence Cawley, two journalists at the BBC, went to do their own investigation into this and found themselves at a joke-testing session with Talking Tables, a London company that makes supplies for gatherings.
What they learned was that the success of a Christmas cracker joke isn’t measured in just laughs but of course, in groans too. It’s vital that the joke-telling experience is a good blend of funny and loathsome, don’t you think?
Talking Tables’ founder and chief executive Clare Harris knows that the importance of these jokes isn’t just to be funny but to have wide appeal. She said: “You want the joke to be something that brings the eight-year-old together with the 80-year-old.”
Laughter really is the best medicine
If you’ve had a tough year, laughter around the table might be exactly what you need. On their website, Action Mental Health says: “According to psychologist, Dr Robert Provine – the world’s leading scientific expert on laughter – the positive emotions we share when we laugh with people is critically important for social cohesion.
“Basically, when we laugh with those around us, we bond with them and make connections, which reduce feelings of isolation and help boost our mental wellbeing. In short, we form a community and/or a network in which we feel safe and at ease.”
So get them jokes cracking!