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

This joke is met by groans that resonate through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a company that produces products for social events. Its repertoire features festive crackers.

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

"You measure the gag by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans at the table," she explains.

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

"The goal is for the gag to be a thing that brings the child together with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Amusement

Coming together to enjoy shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with others at the Christmas table you are engaging in what's very likely a really primordial mammalian play vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she says, helps make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of such interactions can significantly harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in increased levels of endorphin uptake," she adds.

Endorphins are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a truly terrible festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish joke with a Christmas cracker," the expert says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you love."

Which Occurs Inside the Mind?

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

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

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

The research entails scanning the minds of volunteer participants and then exposing them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

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

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding language, but also brain regions associated with both preparation and starting movement and those involved in sight and recall.

Combine these elements as a whole, and individuals listening to a joke have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Scientists discovered that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a greater response in the mind than the identical phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

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

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

Amusement, says the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles found around a holiday gathering?

"You laugh harder when you are familiar with others," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you are fond of them or care for them."

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

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

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate joke?

Likely not, but that has not stopped researchers from attempting to.

In 2001, a professor established a research search for the planet's most humorous gag.

Over 40,000 gags later, with scores lodged by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer idea than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

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

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

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

"The reason is that if no-one finds it funny – it's the gag's fault, not yours.

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

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